One Plus Four Is Seven?
by Elfdragon12
Summary: The sequel for One Plus Two Is Four? is finally here! Rai's twin brother comes to town, but there's something odd about him.
1. Another Day

Hey all! This is the sequel of One Plus Two Is Four? If you haven't read it yet, go read it now! You won't get anything if you don't! I'm so excited for this part of the story. On with the story!

Disclaimer: This is the only one I'll do, so pay attention. I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. I wish I owned Hiei, but that is impossible. But I do own Rai and Yasu and Seishou. Who is Seishou? You'll find out soon enough.

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**Chapter 1: Another Day**

It was a normal school day for Rai, the cheerful, white-haired lightning demon. A little late, but her speed helped her through it. Everything else was how it usually was. Yasu was already up and waiting, Kurama was ready at the door to say hello to Yasu, Yusuke and Kuwabara were ready to ditch, and Hiei was trying to stay at a distance. Key word was trying.

Yusuke was sulking in his seat, while Kuwabara was doing something. No one was quite sure what. Yasu had a sucker in her mouth and quietly thinking while Rai was trying to force a conversation from her. Key word was trying.

Rai went back to her seat, thinking of a way to pass the time until the teacher came.

"No way! Are you serious?" A high-pitched girl's voice caught her ear.

"Totally! This guy was so hot! He had really dark hair and bright blue eyes. He was pretty tall too. Some of his hair was covering his eye, but it made him look so mysterious. He was tall, dark, and handsome all thrown into one!" The first girl's friend told them all about this guy while made approving noises.

_Wow. If it weren't for the fact that he's in the human realm, I'd say I knew him._ Rai thought this to herself. Many of the things did describe him, but there was no possible way. She played over the description in her mind. Every time she did, it sounded more and more like him.

"Are you alright?" Yasu's calm voice disturbed Rai out of her thoughts.

"Yeah. I was just thinking about my family. I was wondering how my brothers are doing and if they miss me."

"That's different from what I usually wonder."

"I'm sorry. It's just that I thought I saw someone who looked like one of them." Rai said, sympathetic for the poor fire demon. Rai had seen an amazing transformation in her friend over the past few months since the whole Himimaru fight. Yasu had gotten a bit quieter, but now she was more willing to stay in the same room as the boys for more than fifteen minutes. This was really amazing, because at first, she couldn't spend five minutes in the same room unless she was doing something important. But she usually wasn't. She had also a lot closer to Kurama, the brilliant red head that captured the heart of the sullen fire demon.

Rai was really happy for Yasu. The girl had so much trouble in her life. Nothing that a girl should go through, from losing her parents to watching as her brother was killed by a heartless demon. But now Yasu had a best friend and a boyfriend that would both risk their lives for her.

"Rai."

"Uh, what is it, Yasu?" Rai said, stirred out of her thoughts.

"You're staring. I suggest you stop now." Yasu told the distracted Rai.

Rai decided to take some advantage of the moment to do a little teasing.

"I bet you wish someone else was staring at you!" She said smirking.

"Shut up Rai!" Yasu snarled. Rai grinned. This so much fun.

"Aww, come on! We all know you two like each other. No use in trying to hide it now." She said winking. Yasu was glaring at Rai. Rai was enjoying every minute of it.

The door slid open to reveal the teacher. Rai bolted to her seat in time to dodge a well-deserved, in Yasu's opinion, slap upside the head.

"Alright class. It's time to calm down and take your seats. Good. Now pull out your algebra books."

The class did so with some minor disagreements from the more rambunctious boys.

The whole day went through rather peacefully. Except for when Yusuke tried to ditch during lunch. Rai, Yasu, and Keiko dragged him back into their line of sight.

Rai had gotten kind of close to the brown haired, smart, athletic, and popular human girl. Yasu, of course, had refused to speak to Keiko. But even Yasu had to admit that the human girl had to be given some credit. She was so dedicated to Yusuke, even though they had their arguments.

Finally, school was released for the rest of day.


	2. Twins

**Chapter 2: Twins**

"Hey, Rai, Yasu! Did you hear about the new student that's coming in tomorrow?" Kuwabara called to the two girls standing outside the school gates. Yusuke was with him.

Rai turned to face him. "No, I haven't. Have you, Yasu?"

"No, and I don't care."

Rai ignored the last part of the comment.

A girlish squeal interrupted them. Everyone turned to see what the problem was. They weren't ready to deal with what faced them then.

A mob of girls was surrounding a single guy. It was funny how you just barely his head above the mob. Rai wanted to throw up. Another guy all the girls decide to fawn over. Suddenly a hand placed itself on her shoulder. She just about jumped out of her skin.

"Just as jumpy as ever I see." She heard a familiar chuckle behind her. She whirled around and nearly squealed like the other girl did earlier. The familiar face, thedark tenor voice, every seeable feature. She gave the owner of them all a gigantic bear hug. A gasp could be heard from the mob of girls.

"I need to be able to breathe, Rai." The tall boy gave a weak smile. He was fairly tall, not quite as much as Kuwabara, and was rather handsome as well. He had dark hair that had a bluish tint to it in the light that covered one of his eyes, shocking blue eyes, and wore a white jacket with a black muscle shirt and black pants.

"Sorry. It's just that I'm so glad to see you again! It feels like it's been forever!" Rai lightened her grip hold on the boy.

Yusuke and Kuwabara looked very confused while Yasu simply stood there. She had seen this boy a couple times, but did not know him very well.

"Did something happen between you and Hiei, Rai?" Kuwabara asked, very much confused. "I thought you liked him."

Rai froze. She turned to the tall boy and made the 'kill' gesture, moving her hand very quickly back and forth across her neck. "X-nay on Iei-hay!"

"Who's Hiei?" The boy asked him. He looked at Kuwabara with an interested look on his face.

"Hiei is Rai's boyfriend. Who are you?" A loud smack could be heard as Rai slapped her forehead in exasperation that Kuwabara actually had the stupidity to tell him how close Hiei was to her.

"I'm her brother, Seishou." The dark hair boy informed them. Some sighs of relief could be heard from the crowd.

Kuwabara's face dropped when he realized what he had done. "Oops."

"While you're asleep, Kuwabara, while you're asleep." Rai threatened in a muttering voice. She was also making small, strangling gestures as well. She quickly calmed down and changed the subject. "So, brother dear, what are you doing in this area? I thought you didn't like traveling this way."

"I don't. I just wanted to visit my twin sister and spend time with her." He smiled gently.

That answer didn't quite click right in Rai's mind. There was something odd about it. She shrugged it off. She didn't care right now. All that mattered was that her brother was here with her.

She gasped. "I've forgotten my manners! Seishou, these are my friends Yusuke Urameshi, Kazuma Kuwabara, and I believe you should remember Yasu Gihiratou." She said pointing to each of them in turn.

Seishou had a surprised expression when she had mentioned the two boys' names. He then turned to regard Yasu. "Yes, I remember her."

"Why don't we go to our house, without the little fan club over there? I'd prefer not to hang around here with them drooling over my brother." Rai suggested walking away. Everyone agreed. Especially Yasu. She despised those pathetic things.

"Hang on a second. Did you say **twin** sister? How come you don't look alike?" Yusuke asked. A brand new confused look had overtaken his features.

"Just because we're twins, doesn't mean we're identical. It's kind of like this. Seishou is negative energy and I'm positive energy. We're just about complete opposites. Just like I'm happy and social, while he's on the grumpier and anti-social. To be honest, Seishou is an odd-ball."

"Hey. I'm standing right here." Seishou interrupted Rai.

"I didn't mean it like that! Anyways, negative energy demons aren't exactly very common. I think there are only about thirty of them at this current moment. Since we were born at the same time, we became opposites. That's why I call him odd. The only thing that we really have in common is our eyes. They're the exact same."

Kuwabara squinted at Seishou. "Really? It's hard to tell. You can only see one of his eyes."

Everyone's face fell at this remark. Seishou looked like he was about ready to give Kuwabara a sound whack over the head. Rai shook her head.

"Well, he does happen to like that hair cut. But whatever. To each their own, Kuwabara. Just like Yasu may like to have her hair in a ponytail, and I like to leave my hair down." Rai commented.

"I believe we've been over this before Rai. The ponytail keeps my hair out of my way."

"Then why don't you cut it?"

"I don't see your point and I don't want to."

"What are you two arguing about **this **time?" A deep, familiar voice came from ahead of them. The two girls looked away from each other and saw two familiar faces. A red haired, green eyed young man with a friendly look on his face, and a shorter, black haired, crimson eyed young man with a bit of a hostile look.

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Useless comments by the Author:

Yay! Seishou is finally in! Kinda like a taller Hiei, except very different hair styles. I always imagine Seishou's voice like Seto Kaiba's from Yu-Gi-Oh! in the American version.(Or if you haven't watched it, like Koenma's voice from the movie with Kuronue(Done by the same guy)in it. I love Eric Stuart's voice!)


	3. Brother Meets Boyfriend

**Chapter 3: Brother Meets Boyfriend**

"Hey Kurama, hey Hiei!" Yusuke called out to the two, forgetting of who was with him.

Rai started glaring at the back of the black haired punk.

"Hello everyone. May I ask who you have with you today?" Kurama asked after greeting everyone. Hiei looked like he was about to say the same thing. He glared at Seishou, who had Rai clinging to his arm.

"I'll just introduce you guys. Hiei, Kurama, this is my brother, Seishou. Seishou, these are my friends Hiei and Shuichi Minamino, or known as Kurama." Rai introduced them, pointing to each of them in turn. Hiei relaxed, though not visibly.

"Or a little more than just friends." Yusuke chuckled to himself. More than one person, but not all, went a little red.

Rai was going to hit him, but Yasu got there first.

"Ow! What was that for?" Yusuke asked enraged.

"What do you think? For being a complete idiot." Yasu glared at the unfortunate boy. She walked over to Kurama, "So, shall we continue or stand around here all day?"

"Took the words straight out my mouth!" Rai stopped and looked at Hiei and Seishou. They seemed to be having a staring contest.

Everyone's face fell. Rai looked from Hiei to Seishou and from Seishou to Hiei. She sighed. She waved a hand between them. Neither blinked. She sighed again, turned to the others and winked.

"I know just the thing!"

"They're not going to like this much, are they?" Kurama whispered to Yasu.

She shook her head in response.

Rai stepped up to the two boys and threw an arm around both their necks, Seishou had to stoop because of how much taller he was than his sister. The next thing was rather unexpected. She brought in their heads so fast that there was a sound crack as their foreheads connected. Rai, then, ran and hid behind Yasu.

"What was that for?" Seishou yelled.

"To get your attention. Now that I have it, let's go." She said as she grabbed both Hiei and Seishou and led them away.

"You can let go Rai. I can walk." Hiei said with an irritated look on his face.

"Good. Then walk. We've been standing around long enough." She said, happily smiling. "One more thing, Hiei. I would really like it if you and Seishou at least **try **to get along. Please?" She made a pitiful, pleading face. Yasu winced. That face had gotten her through some arguments.

Hiei looked at her, and then looked at Seishou.

"Hn." Was all he said.

Rai jumped up happily and hugged Hiei around the neck. Hiei looked at Seishou. He didn't look like he had even **seen** or heard any of what Rai did. Hiei didn't like the look he had seen in that demon's eyes just a minute ago. He did have eyes like Rai's, but something in them was different. It wasn't quite right. But then he didn't know Seishou too well.

They finally arrived at the Toshimo and Gihiratou residence.

"Finally! It seemed to take us forever just to get here." Yusuke said with a sigh of relief.

"Well, there was finding Seishou at the school, introductions, walking into Kurama and Hiei, more introductions, the staring contest, and walking the rest of the way here." Rai said, ticking these off on her fingers. "We've certainly taken our time getting here."

Everyone was quiet for a moment.

"It's getting pretty late. I need to get home for my mother will worry about me. I'm sorry to leave you all now." Kurama broke the unexpected quiet. Yusuke and Kuwabara had somewhat the same sentiments.

"It's okay, I'm just glad you guys got to meet Seishou." Rai said happily. Yasu was quiet, but gave a small nod.

"Well, I guess we'll see you tomorrow." And with parting comments, Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara left. Hiei still stood with them.

"So you're not going home yet, Hiei?" Rai asked.

"Does it look like it? I need to talk to you for a moment Rai." And with that, Hiei dragged Rai away from Yasu and Seishou.

"What is it, Hiei?" Rai said with a smile on her face.

"Seishou is your brother right?"

"Yeah. We're twins too. But the one thing that we share is our eyes."

"Hn." Hiei thought about that look in her brother's eye. There was a distinct, but vague, difference.

"Is something wrong, Hiei?"

Hiei looked at Rai. She had a worried look. He shook his head. "No. I need to go."

"Great!" She gave him a hug around and a light kiss before he could go. She let go quickly. "See you later." Then she walked into her home, only thinking happy thoughts.


	4. Fangirls

**Chapter 4: Fangirls**

It was a sunny afternoon and Rai was at the mall with Seishou and Yasu. She dragged them there when she discovered that Seishou hadn't brought much with him. Rai wasn't much of a shopper, but when the occasion called for it, she would.

Seishou sighed. "Remind me why we're doing this."

"You need more to wear than that suit. It's your fault that you didn't bring anything with you." Rai told him. Yasu just shook her head. She needed headache medicine fast. It wasn't until Rai pointed something out that she looked up.

"Hey, Yasu. Isn't that the Meiou school uniform?"

Yasu looked up at the name of the school. "It certainly looks like it. But I don't see Kurama with them. It's just a group of girls."

Rai saw something that caught her eye.

"Hey Seishou! Could you wait here for a moment while I show Yasu something I just saw?"

"No. I'll just sit here until you come back." Seishou took a chair at an unoccupied table, crossed his arms and legs, set down his purchased items, and took an unknown interest in the wall in front of him.

"So what is it?" Yasu asked when Rai dragged her away.

"I don't know why they have these in malls, but I saw a store you might like." Rai turned to beam at her friend. She had led the girl to a weapons shop. The fire demon's eyes widen slightly. Her favorite thing is fighting. As a certain orange-haired buffoon learned quickly.

Yasu looked through the whole store, almost with the enraptured enthusiasm of a child. Minus the "Mommy, can I get that? Mommy, can I get this?" kind of questions.

Rai chuckled to herself. This was quite fun to watch. A dignified demon acting like a child in a candy store.

"Isn't where those Meiou girls are gathering where your brother is supposed to be waiting?"

Rai turned around to see that, as Yasu pointed out, those girls had surrounded her brother. Her face fell. Seishou seemed to be getting rather popular with the girls.

Quickly, Rai and Yasu walked over to the crowd.

"You go get your brother. I'll just sit here." Yasu said, standing contently to the side.

"Oh, such a wonderful, helpful, kindly person you are."

"Only for you." Yasu said with a smirk.

Rai sighed as she went to her task. When she reached the middle, she was rather frustrated.

"If you would excuse us, ladies, I would prefer if you would give my brother some breathing room. He is not quite used to being flocked to by crazy girls." She said loudly so everyone in the group could hear. She grabbed Seishou's hand and led him out of the gathered girls.

"Wow. He's nearly as gorgeous as Shuichi Minamino!" One girl said in a hush squeal.

Yasu froze. They just said his name. In a way that, as his girlfriend, she didn't particularly enjoy. She downright hated it.

"Did you just say Shuichi Minamino?" Yasu said, barely able to hide a menacing growl.

"Yes. Do you know him? We are the 'Official Shuichi Minamino Fan Club'." One girl said proudly.

You could practically see Yasu twitch when she heard that ridiculous title. But before Yasu could actually maim the girls grouped before her, Rai stepped in.

"Um, if I were you, I would never mention his name in her presence ever again. She isn't a very tolerant person." Rai said, leaning in.

"Why? Does she hate him or something?" The apparent leader said, crossing her arms. She was starting to glare back.

"No, quite the opposite. I walked in on them one time." Rai said, slightly grinning.

"Rai." Yasu said in a threatening voice. "Two things. One, they don't need to know any of what we've together. Two, you sat there and watched. You thought it was funny." She looked up at the girls and uttered a rather graphic threat. "If any of you repeat a single word of any of this conversation, I will find whoever talked, kill them very slowly, and hang their innards for everyone see."

The girls stood, gaping at the angry girl. One of them stepped forward, "You mean that you actually had-."

"No." Yasu cut her off quickly. "I wouldn't go that far. I have other things to do with my time." And with that she turned and walked out of the mall.

"That is one over-reacting girl. But I must say that you never bring up this conversation. It's not a wise thing to cross her. Good-bye. Have a pleasant day." Rai quickly followed Yasu, dragging Seishou behind her.

Yasu stomped all the way home. She collapsed on her back onto a couch. "The very thought of a bunch girls doing something like creating fan club like that, sickens me."

Seishou simply left for his room. Rai took the opposite couch of the reclining demon. They sat in silence for a little while when they heard a knock at the door. Rai looked at Yasu, seeing if she would get it, but the stubborn girl didn't even budge.

"No, no. Don't bother getting up. No, I'll go get it. I know I always get it. It's pleasure doing it. You don't need stress yourself." She muttered to herself.

"Yes, slave. Get the door." Yasu smirked at Rai. Rai shoot Yasu a dirty look.

Rai opened the door to see Kurama, or otherwise known as Shuichi Minamino.

"What do you know? Speak of the devil! Yasu and I just conversation about you! You might want to be careful. She's not in the best of moods."

"What for?" He asked in good-nature. He was always so caring for Yasu.

"She just found how popular with the girls you are at school." Rai said with a, somewhat, exasperated look.

"In other words, she met my silly fan club." Kurama stated matter-of-factly.

"Yeah. They had been drooling Seishou. And Yasu added a very colorful. Something about innards." Rai politely omitted part of conversation that was kind of uncomfortable. Yasu glared at Rai.

"Don't bother about them, Yasu. They could never compete against you." Kurama walked to Yasu, with that smile on his face.

"I'll just leave you two for now." Rai said grinning as she ran to her room.

"May I sit here? Or shall I sit on the other couch?" Kurama asked the still steaming girl.

Yasu looked at him and grudgingly brought her feet up, sitting up on the couch. Kurama sat down right next to her.

"Do they bother you that much?"

Yasu was quiet for a moment. "It's the way they obsess over you. It's sickening, really."

Kurama looked at her and put his arm on the farthest shoulder from him and brought to Yasu into his chest. She gathered the hint, leaned her head on his chest, and let him rest his chin on her head.

"As I said, they could never compare to you. You're the only one for me." He whispered to her.

Yasu closed her eyes. Very few could comfort her like this and one of them was dead. She slipped out of that world of pain and could only feel Kurama holding her. His scent, his warmth (not really comparable to hers), the sound of his breath, it so intoxicating.

"I'll always be yours." She whispered.

A deep chuckle could be heard from a separate room, if you were listening. A very malicious plan was forming against them at this very moment.

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More useless thoughts of the author:

Yay! Squishi-ness between Yasu and Kurama! You don't actually see very much of it, surprisingly. That may be favorite because my favorite is Hiei. He is so awesome! Anyways, I love just ticking off those stupid fangirls of Kurama's! They need to get a life! It's not like they can allshare him! Seriously! (Readers: Stop ranting and get on with the next censored chapter already!) Don't worry. The next chapter will come pretty soon... Once I actually get it typed up, that is. (Claryssa: Don't worry. I'll **make** her type.) Okay! I get the point. Ranting stops now. Bye!


	5. Lies, Trickery, and Deceit

**Chapter 5: Lies, Trickery, and Deceit**

It was another bright day after school. Rai, Yasu, Seishou, and Kurama were walking together. Rai was pretty sure she could feel Hiei's energy flicker in and out, but he was very elusive. Rai stopped when she remembered something she needed and told everyone to keep going. They were just talking when something rather unusual happens.

Yasu felt a shock course through her body when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked at Kurama. It wasn't him and only he that she allowed to touch her. She looked to the other side and saw Seishou. She nearly punched his face in, but she settled for swatting his hand off her shoulder.

"Don't touch me." She snarled at him.

Seishou smiled at her and looked at the red head over her head. He didn't seem to be watching.

"Why not?" He asked, seemingly innocent.

"Because you are not Kurama."

Kurama heard this part and turned to see Yasu glaring daggers at Seishou. From the little bit he heard of their conversation, he could very well understand why.

"Excuse me, Seishou, but what are you doing that involves you touching Yasu?" He asked, a very well hidden threat under his words. Seishou smirked a little.

"Nothing much." Seishou walked on ahead. Leaving the two behind. Yasu still glared at him after he left.

"Something isn't right. He wasn't anything like that the last time I met him." Yasu said, not liking the situation at all.

"What was he like?"

"Very disconnected. But very much like Hiei. I guess that's one reason she likes him. I suspect Rai took all her lessons from Seishou and applied them to Hiei. Something happened and Rai seems to be too blind to see it."

"It makes sense. All of it. Rai might be too happy seeing her brother to realize it." Kurama said, thinking. "Oh, I've got to go. Good-bye, Yasu. I think you should tell Rai about this." He said as he walked away.

"I will." She said as she walked towards home.

Rai came running around the corner to catch Yasu.

"About time."

"I'm sorry! I got held up." Rai panted. Yasu shot Rai a certain look when she said 'held up'. "Hey!" Rai shouted when she caught it, "I didn't even see Hiei."

"Sure you didn't. I'm going to head home. Your brother headed in that direction." Yasu said, pointing in the boy's direction. "I need to talk to you later."

Rai watched Yasu, puzzled by the last statement. She shrugged and left to find the missing twin.

As she turned down the street, a flock of girls caught her attention. _What is it this time?_

She pushed through the crowd to find the reason behind the great gaggle of girls. This was very difficult seeing as how **all** the girls wanted to see the amazing wonder. It was most probable that half of them didn't even know what the amazing wonder was.

In the middle of this group was the person she least expected, Seishou. Her jaw practically dropped to the floor. Seishou turned and saw her, but not a single flash of recognition sparked in his eyes. He winked at her and turned back.

"Seishou, what are you doing!" She nearly shouted at him. Seishou turned and looked at her again.

"Oh, it's you, Rai. May I help you, dear sister?" He asked. He had a goofy grin on his face. Rai swallowed down anything that was largely offensive.

"It's time we went home." She grabbed his arm and dragged him away. None of the girls could follow. She finally let go of his arm and let him walk on his own.

"What's all the commotion about?" His voice came from behind her. It sounded kind of cross. Usually Seishou would be thanking her right now. In his own subtle way. He never thanked or apologized to anyone straight forward.

She turned to face him. He did indeed look very cross. She looked straight into his eyes. Something was wrong.

"Seishou, Is something wrong? You've been acting very strange lately. You never act like that." She asked.

"What are you talking about? I've always been like this."

Everything clicked. It all made sense now. From coming to the Human Realm just to see her, to actually enjoy being the center of attention for girls. How could she ever be so blind?

Her fist connected with his face. Seishou flew back into a wall. Rai was breathing very hard, her face was red with anger. This was something that could never be forgiven.

"How dare you pretend to be Seishou! You could never, ever, be him! Who are you? What have you done with my real brother?" Her words were filled with rage.

The imposter stood up, rubbing his jaw. A smirk tugged the corners of his lips. He chuckled. Then the chuckle grew to a laugh.

"Congratulations. It's about time you finally figured it out. You have quite a nice punch there. That boy should be glad to have had a sister like you. You look rather nice when mad. As for your questions, I can only answer one. My name is Shogate." He said bowing. A smirk was in full sway.

"I won't ask you again. Where is Seishou?" She growled menacingly.

The Seishou-imposter clicked his tongue. "Where did you learn manners? I'm not going to just tell you where he is. But don't worry. He's certainly alive." He laughed once again.

This really ticked her off. She ran in for another punch, but the imposter disappeared. His laughter rang through the deserted street.

Rai fell to her knees, tears fell to the sidewalk. She punched the ground.

"No. No, no, no. Seishou!" She whispered to herself. Her throat didn't want to work.

After a minute, she regained some of her composure. She grabbed her pack, stood up, and wiped the tears away. She walked the rest of the way home.

Yasu sat up when she heard the door open and close. She had been lying on her bed, trying to figure out what to tell Rai. She looked out her door and saw Rai by herself.

"Where's your brother? Weren't you going to get him?" Yasu asked. She asked this quietly. Rai seemed very upset.

"He's not coming back." She said as she walked into her room. Yasu made sure that there wasn't something in her ear. That voice was a quality that didn't belong to such a happy girl. There was only one reason her voice would be like that. She knew. That was the only reason that such an empty tone would be heard from her mouth. That alien voice was empty but so full of sorrow.

Yasu stood there for a moment. She was trying to decide what to do. In the end she decided it would be best to leave her alone.

A new energy entered the house. A very familiar one. The fire demon dressed in black. Yasu was about to warn him, but decided against it. It would probably be good for Rai to have him with her.

Rai was in her room at the window. Tears filled her eyes and blinded her. Someone grabbed her from behind. She jumped and knocked both of them down. When she saw who it was, she sighed in relief.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?" She yelled at him. He just shrugged. It must have been somewhat difficult because he was currently beneath her. She sat up next to him. He didn't get up just yet, but he put his hands behind his head.

He had been looked her over quickly. Something definitely wasn't right. Tears didn't normally grace her bright eyes. He sat up quickly.

"Why have you been crying?" He paused.

"Seishou's been kidnapped. He was never here, it was just someone pretending to be him. Oh, Hiei, I've been so blind!" She said, very quickly. Only stopping because Hiei had put a finger on her lips. He looked into her eyes. She suddenly hugged him around the neck. Her tears soaked his shoulder, but he didn't stop her.

Hiei made a promise to himself. Whoever did this to her was not going to have his own head once he found that low-lying scum.

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YAY! New chapter! Heck yes! And Claryssa, you've got the whole Rai-punches-Seishou-imposter-in-the-face thing, so now you have no right to hold back letting me borrow the movie! HA! On a less high-pitched note, as all of you can plainly see, Seishou is not under hypnotism. The last chapter of my other story hints to this chapter right here. Who the other person in that chapter I just mentioned? You'll find out soon enough!


	6. A New Tournament

**Chapter 6: A New Tournament**

The next day was bright, but the atmosphere said differently. Rai was silent. Thinking about her brother, no doubt. It galled him to see her like this. So sad and depressed. She put on a marvelous mask for the people at her school. They didn't see how red her eyes were from crying on his shoulder. She told them that Seishou had business he needed to do and she didn't know when he would come back.

Hmph. Business alright. Business tearing her heart out. The fierce fire demon scowled. This was definitely not some random trick. He had seen some dark plan in that imposter's mind earlier.

The school bell stopped Hiei in his thoughts. He watched as Rai walked out of the school gate, alone. That other fire demon had decided to keep her distance. She had told Hiei this morning while Rai was asleep that she had never even seen Rai mad, not anywhere close to what she felt like now. If Rai had ever been the slightest bit angry, she had kept it hidden until now.

Hiei kept an eye on his target. The girl was so preoccupied that she probably wouldn't have noticed him if he was standing in front of her. He stayed hidden in the shadows. She would probably start crying again.

Suddenly a thought of Yukina appeared in his mind. Was this what she felt like sometimes? But then, since Yukina had never known he was her brother, there would be no reason for her to grief over him. Although, if Yukina was ever told that her brother was dead, she might be sad, but probably never on such a level as Rai. She had not gotten close to hers.

"My, my. Traveling all by yourself? Well, this certainly does save me sometime trying to get you alone, now doesn't it?" A familiar voice rang through the street.

"Get out here so I can see you, Shogate!" She shouted angrily.

On cue, a body appeared out of the shadows. It was her brother, or rather, his imposter.

"Tell me why you're here and where my brother is!" She demanded. The sound of static caught Hiei's ears. A low rumbling also caught his attention. He looked up at the sky to see dark clouds hanging over the city.

"Rather impatient, aren't we?" Shogate clicked his tongue in a way that made Hiei want to cut his tongue out. "All in good time. The reason I'm here is to." He paused, "Make a sort of proposition."

"Why would I agree to anything you have to say?" She answered hotly.

"Because if you don't, your brother will die."

Rai visibly froze. That creep had her full attention. Hiei scowled again.

"The proposition is this; there is to be another Dark Tournament in one month. This will be the second year since Team Urameshi won. We invite you to join as Team Toshimo."

"And if I say no?"

"Then you, your little friends, and your brother shall all die. No one refuses an offer to join the Dark Tournament." Shogate said with a chuckle.

"I will join this tournament. And you better give me my brother back!"

Suddenly Shogate strode up to Rai. She was taken aback with this sudden movement. He hooked a finger under her chin and tilted up her face.

"You look so lovely when you're so angry and sad. So mixed with emotions. It's delicious." This comment sent the waiting boy into action.

She slapped his hand away and stepped back when Hiei jumped in between them.

"Keep your hands off her. She is not yours." Hiei growled. Shogate smirked.

"So I suppose that you'll be joining Miss Toshimo in the Tournament. I suppose your entire group will want to come. They're welcome to. You need all the help you can get." Shogate turned to leave, but not without one last thing, "By the way, you win this tournament, and you get your brother back."

And he disappeared into the shadows.

"He has my brother." Rai whispered quietly. Hiei turned to look at her. When he didn't see her directly behind him, he realized she was on the ground.

"Sitting there isn't going to help him." Hiei told her. He grabbed her hand and, not too gently but not too hard, forced her off the ground.

"You're right. I've done nothing but bring the people around down." She was looking down at her feet. She looked up. Tears were in the corners of her eyes, but a determined look was on her face. "But he's my brother and I have to get him. And you're going to help me." She paused, almost shyly looked up and added, "Right?"

"Of course." Hiei looked at her and smirked a little. "Idiot."

"Hey! I am most certainly not an idiot!" She said crossly.

"That's what you think."

"Rai! Hiei! There you guys are!" A shout came from behind them.

Rai turned to see Yusuke and Kuwabara running towards them. Yasu and Kurama were walking behind them.

"I saw the sky and knew it had to be you! There aren't that many lightning demons around." Yusuke panted as he reached them.

"What happened, Rai?" Yasu said, cutting right to the point.

"Since you have asked so nicely, I'll tell you. Shogate came back. He still looked like Seishou. He "invited" us to this upcoming Dark Tournament. And if we win, we get my brother back." She explained.

Yusuke's and Kuwabara's faces dropped in surprise. Kurama also had a light look of it.

"The Dark Tournament again?" Kuwabara shouted.

"Yes, the Dark Tournament. Shogate told me you guys participated under the team name Urameshi. With Yusuke as captain, I'm assuming. This year, it's supposed to be Team Toshimo. This was not by choice, I can tell you that."

Yusuke's face dropped even more. That was, obviously, not his choice of a name for the team.

"When is it going to take place?" Kurama asked, probably the only guy, other than Hiei, with a clear mind.

"In one month. So I suggest that, if everyone wants to live, we practice fighting."

"You're nervous." Yasu didn't ask.

"I am not! Why would you say that?"

"One, the dark clouds are still up there, two, you're fidgeting, and three, how could you not be? You've gotten us into a tournament where we have to fight for our lives."

"And get killed if we refuse." Rai added in an undertone.

"What was that?" Yasu asked. She was the only one that didn't have too much of a clue on the rules that Rai had agreed to.

"Um, Shogate told me that if we refused, we die."

Yasu looked at Rai. Then looked at everyone else. She bit her tongue.

"We have no choice. But I suppose even if we did, you'd go anyway. Where you go, I'll follow." She turned and looked at everyone else, "I assume everyone feels the same?"

"Of course we do! We wouldn't just leave you two to fight in a tournament by yourselves!" Kuwabara agreed. Yusuke and Kurama nodded in agreement.

Rai brightened considerably. She knew she didn't even have to ask Hiei, considering the way he protectively stood by her.

"Now that's taken care of, I must say it's gotten late. I think we should all get some rest" Kurama spoke up.

Everyone looked up. The clouds had gone away to reveal a dark night sky. Slowly, everyone went their separate ways. Except for Hiei. He seemed to loathe the thought of leaving his charge alone. Every time she had been, seemingly, alone, she had gotten into some sort of trouble.

He reminded Yasu greatly of a bulldog.

* * *

Yay! This one took longer than usual to post. I'm so sorry! I was busy!

Yasu: Yeah, sure. Busy playing card games, shopping, and playing DDR.

Oh, shut up! Anyways, I was surprised to see that my last chapter didn't get much response. It's the part where I reveal the Seishou isn't really normal! I suppose that whole Shogato-finds-Rai-kind-of-attractive thing is a bit... Well, rather nauseating because he's been in disguise as her brother. It's supposed to. I also did it to make Hiei act. It's fun to make him act so protective and get him all riled up!

Hiei: Baka onna. (unsheathes katana)

Oi! No killing the author! If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be here!

Hiei: (Pauses) Good idea. (prepares to strike)

Bye now! (starts running)


	7. Boat Side Troubles

**Chapter 7: Boat side Troubles**

The month they had to prepare came and went. To Rai, the days went by very slowly. To everyone else, there wasn't enough. Hiei had noticed that whenever she wasn't training, she was very distracted and had a tendency to walk into things. But now that today was the day to go to the ship, she was more focused than he had seen her.

"Wait a sec. Are we the guest team?" Kuwabara asked Rai. She looked at him and thought for a moment.

"Probably. Why do you ask?"

"That means we're gonna have to fight on the way over." He groaned.

"Doesn't matter to me. I have too much energy I need to waste." She said with a shrug.

"Isn't having a lot of energy a good thing?"

"It is, usually. But if I have too much energy, it's likely I'll overload or something like that. It's dangerous to be a lightning demon sometimes." She said with a sigh. "But I get over it. It has its payoffs." She added with a smirk.

"Ye weren't supposed to bring harem, you dolts!" A rough, deep voice shouted at them. It was a short, hairy man that seemed to be the captain of the ship.

Rai and Yasu looked at each other, then at the short hairy man that was shouting at them. Rai laughed while Yasu scowled. She wasn't the only one that was scowling.

"He thinks we're harem, Yasu. I guess he doesn't realize that we're fighters. I guess he can't count."

"If you even **dare **suggest that ridiculous idea again, I'll give you another mouth, right across the neck!" Yasu shouted back at the captain. She huffed silently.

Rai approached the captain using her speed. "Sorry about her short temper. You can believe me or not, but that girl and I are here to fight. Not be cheerleaders. We know how to fight."

The captain looked at her rather dubiously. He shrugged in indifference.

"Good. Thank you." She smiled and then turned to her friends. "Come on guys. I know we don't have all day here."

Everyone walked up the plank. Yasu glared daggers at the captain before setting foot on the ship. The ship started on its course to the island. Several demons seemed to look at Rai and Yasu thinking they might make very tasty morsels. Hiei and Kurama saw this and definitely didn't like it.

"Oh dear. Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that some fighting will occur before we even set foot in the fighting dome? I could probably cut the tension with a knife." Rai commented.

"There will be fighting if everyone won't stop staring!" Yasu said irritably, "Although, I'd be more than happy to give anyone another eye. They just wouldn't be able to see out of it." She paused, "They'd die too."

Some demons stepped back. They were also getting the glares from the two boys that seemed to be their guardians and boyfriends.

"You two seem to be getting a lot of attention. You two are probably the only girls on the ship. I bet some of these guys would really love to have you on their team." Yusuke said jokingly.

There was a sound _whack_ as Hiei hit him over the head with the hilt of his katana.

"What was that for?"

"Why do you think? Because you are joking about someone else claiming Hiei's woman." Rai said with a smile. "I don't think I would necessarily like what some of these guys would have in mind for us. Frankly, I would like to hurt some of them myself. Just for the fact of where they stare." She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder.

Suddenly, a giant, blue, scaly demon loomed behind her. She casually looked over her shoulder at it. It wasn't wearing very much.

"May I help you?" She asked it.

"Would you like to come over with us instead of these humans?" He spat out the last word.

"No thanks. We're fine with these humans. Bye now." She answered calmly

"We can guarantee you a good time." It put a scaly hand on her shoulder.

"You have until the count of three to take your hand off me. If I don't cut it off myself, that one over there will." She stated, pointing to Hiei who had taken out his katana. Her voice had a menacing tone to it that it certainly didn't have earlier.

The demon quickly left after it was freed of a few fingers.

"Wow. I didn't even get to one." She commented. Of course, now that incident had occurred, Hiei was standing next to her. He had an arm wrapped protectively around her waist. And Kurama was next to Yasu, filling any spot any other demon would try to take.

Kuwabara stared at Hiei. "What was with that?"

"What do you think, idiot?"

"Let me spell it out. Since that demon made an approach on us girls, Hiei and Kurama feel they need to assert the fact that we're their territory. Every man feels that need. If I meet one that doesn't feel the need to protect his girl, I'll punch him in the face. Besides, if Hiei hadn't of done that, I would have." Yasu explained.

"If I may have your attention, this is very important." A voice boomed out of a loudspeaker. "This is not a cruise. When the ring comes up, you must send a team member to the ring to fight. The last team standing shall take place as the sixteenth team in the tournament." As the voice spoke a ring rose out of the middle of the ship.

"Take about déjà vu." Yusuke muttered to himself.

"If you guys don't mind, I'll just go on up." Rai stood up, releasing herself from Hiei's arm. He grabbed her wrist in obvious disagreement. "No worries. I'm not weak. No one touches me if I don't want them to."

"What about earlier?" Hiei asked, not so sure.

"I needed to give him a warning. Besides, if I had, you might've gotten shocked." She put a finger his hand and gave the tiniest shock. He let go, feeling it throughout his body.

She jumped into the ring. The opponents were very much larger than her. The smallest was probably about two feet taller than her. Still, she smirked knowingly. There were several catcalls. Hiei cold only grit his teeth and wait.

The first to approach grabbed her from behind.

"Bad move, bozo." She said as he was shocked and barbequed to a crisp. "Whew, he doesn't smell much better barbequed than he did alive."

Before she could move, another demon ran at her. Like lightning, she dodged his attack. She sighed. She drew a shuriken and charged it with lightning. She threw it at him. There was a loud scream of agony before the demon collapsed, dead. She took back her shuriken and sighed.

"So stupid." Suddenly she felt a hand touch her in a place it shouldn't have. "That's it!" She raised a hand to the air and in a flash, she had caught lightning. She placed her other hand and seemed to pull the lightning so it grew into a gigantic ball.

"Lightning Destruction!" In a blinding flash of light, everyone in the ring, other than her, was dead. And so was half the ship. She deftly jumped down from the ring. Everyone in the group was staring at her.

"Someone was angry. Look how much power they produced." Yasu said, with a slightly amused look on her face. Rai's face dropped.

"Whoa! How'd you do that?" Kuwabara's jaws had dropped practically to the floor.

"That was quite a shock." Kurama said, adding a small pun in there.

"Oops. I didn't mean to generate that much energy." Rai said, looking at the damage she caused. "I was just a little mad. Come on, if no one would stop touching you, you would be ticked."

"A little anger gave you a lot of extra energy." Kurama said. Rai laughed a little.

"Well, I did have some extra energy. That's another reason I went up. To blow off some steam. Now I could probably touch metal with magnetizing or electrocuting anyone touching it."

Hiei looked at her. That earlier shock he had received from her must've been the smallest she could produce. She would probably call it a love shock or something of the like.

"Is it just me, or do those other guys look angry?" Yusuke asked, pointing at the approaching demons.

"No. They're mad." Rai agreed, looking over her shoulder. She turned around and sighed. She addressed one of them. "Let me guess, you have a problem with the fact I just wiped out half the ship?"

The demon nodded wordlessly and suddenly struck at the girl. It didn't even get halfway. Hiei was standing in front of her. The demon that had attacked was lying on the floor dead.

"This is déjà vu alright." Yusuke said with a sigh. Then they went to work.

About ten minutes later, the ship was full of dead bodies. The only people left were Team Toshimo and the crew.

"Now on to the Dark Tournament!" Rai shouted to no one.

* * *

Useless notes from the author:

Hey! It took an extra bit of time because I didn't get to type Sunday and I couldn't get in Monday. But here it is now. this chapter was pretty fun to write, all-in-all. An extra note is that I love saying Kuronue's name. And further more, I shall now call him Batman. Because he is.


	8. The First Night

**Chapter 8: The First Night**

The hotel was very fancy and well-to-do. A porter came and led them away. They were led to their rooms in the hotel. They had received two. One for the boys and one for the girls. The girls set their things in their rooms and met in the boys' room. Hiei was standing off to the side while everyone sat.

"What was the tournament like when you participated?" Yasu asked.

"Well, last year, everyone was very eager to see our heads torn off." Kurama answered.

"I doubt it will be much different this year." Rai put in.

"There were sixteen teams, including us. We only fought four teams. The competition was very fierce." Kurama explained.

A knock came at the door. A man with a cart wheeled in. He set down six cups of tea and promptly walked out. Kurama grabbed his cup and sipped it quietly.

"Anything else you remember about the tournament?" Yasu asked. Her eyes never really left Kurama.

"Yeah, the Tournament Council was really against us, the guest team." Yusuke remembered. "How come you haven't asked any questions, Rai? It's seems like you would be the curious one."

"I have my sources." She said cryptically.

"Those sources would be?" He inquired further.

"My brothers. Mainly the two oldest ones. They enjoy fighting and watching fights. They're very descriptive in the details of some of the fights." She explained.

"How many brothers do you have, Rai?" Kuwabara asked.

"How many brothers? Let's see. Seven and I'm the only girl. There's Yukaru, Hiriguwa, Inasuwei, Karima, there's Seishou, Naku, and finally, Marakai. That's all seven of them in order. Five of them are older than me though. Seishou's only older by three hours." Rai said, ticking their names of on her fingers. "Let me tell ya, it can be difficult being the only girl out of eight."

Everyone was staring at Rai. Kuwabara's and Yusuke's jaws had reached the floor.

"What? Is it abnormal to have siblings?"

"Not very many people have that many." Kurama pointed out.

"I knew you had several brothers, but I have to admit. I didn't know you had that many. I've only met Seishou, Naku, and Marakai. You hinted there being another one, but you never said you had seven in all." Yasu asked. She had been very surprised at this newly discovered information.

"Well, no one ever asked." She said with a shrug. She took her cup and sipped it like Kurama. She quietly set it down. "Now, if you would excuse me, I'm going to get some rest before the tournament starts." She walked out of the room.

Yasu looked at the time. She scoffed. "Some rest? It's barely seven o'clock. I know she doesn't need that much rest. I can bet you that since she started talking about her brothers, she's thinking about Seishou." She turned to "suggest" to Hiei to check up on her, but when she looked, he was already gone. "Well, some people are ahead of the program."

"Who would've thought that the shrimp would get a girlfriend? But those two make a cute couple. It reminds of me and Yukina. I wish she was here." Kuwabara talked on about this subject. Then he cracked a nerve.

Yasu punched him in the face. He fell to the floor. She then picked him up and dragged him to the hallway. Yusuke laughed loudly. Yasu turned to glare at him.

"You wanna be next?" She shouted. Yusuke promptly shut up. She calmed down a little. "He can come back in as soon as he regains consciousness. His voice was just getting really annoying."

"Though they do make a cute couple." Kurama commented quietly and took another sip of his tea.

Rai sat at the window, staring into the dark night. The room was dark, as well. She felt so heartbroken and helpless. She didn't know if Seishou was safe. Were any of the others harmed or captured? She leaned her forehead against the cool glass.

"I don't like that look on you." A voice came from behind. Rai turned to see Hiei standing behind.

"Don't I ever get any privacy?" She asked exasperated. Every time she tried to be by herself, Hiei would always pop up.

"No." He stepped up to her. She shook her head. Just like him.

"Are you my guard dog now?" She asked jokingly.

"Yes." He said as he slid his arms around her neck. He folded his arms across her shoulders, pulling her against his chest. Leaning against it, she could feel the well-developed muscles in his chest and torso. She looked up at him. He was looking out the window now. He still had a serious face on. He always did.

"Stop worrying about him so much." His voice broke through the quiet. "Worrying will get you no where."

"I guess you're right, but I can't help it. He's my twin brother. I love him." She said, some tears threatened to fall. Suddenly she felt Hiei's warm breath on her cheek. He had placed his head on her shoulder.

"He wouldn't want you to cry over him. No brother ever wants to see his sister cry." He whispered to her, imparting some of his knowledge as a brother himself.

"You know, with me having seven brothers, you'd think I would know how to react around you. But you can be so much more difficult than them. You're so stubborn, serious, distant, and unpredictable." She said, pretending to be cross.

"Anything else you'd like to add?"

"Yes. Strong, sweet, caring, protective, and maybe just a little attractive." She added playfully.

"Hn. I see you got your sense of humor back. That's good." He sat down behind Rai. She laid on his chest and closed her eyes. Suddenly she started humming. It was calm and sweet, very soothing. He looked at her. She looked very peaceful. She stopped.

"I'm sorry. I didn't quite mean to. The song just popped into my head." She apologized.

"Continue it." He demanded quietly.

"I think I forgot to add demanding to the list. Yes, master." She said, protesting to the demand. Hiei smirked.

"Just do it. I liked it."

"Fine, fine. Keep your shirt on." She started the song again. She closed her eyes, not knowing that Hiei had quite done the same. Soon Rai asleep. Hiei tried to get up, but Rai had a firm grip on his arms. He decided against trying to break free of her. He shut his eyes and soon followed her into the realm of dreams.

The door to the room opened slowly. Yasu and Kurama peeked through the crack. They soon spotted the sleeping couple.

"They look so peaceful lying there. We shouldn't wake them up." Kurama whispered. Yasu nodded. She paused for second.

"I guess I'll go to sleep on the couch. The bed might make too much noise." Yasu whispered back to him.

"Good night and sweet dreams." Kurama said as he lightly kissed her lips.

"Sweet dreams." Yasu said, closing the door silently.

* * *

More Useless Comments of the Author:

I love this chapter! Hiei can be so sweet! There's more Kurama in this chapter. For some reason I haven't been putting him in as much lately. But that'll change. Speaking of changes, I've decided to bring my Batman back to life just for the Aurthor's Notes!

Korunue: (Comes up with a poof) Huh? Where am I?

Elf: With me! (glomps the unsuspecting bat demon)

Kuronue: Ack!

Elf:Isn't life great?


	9. The Only Fighter

**Chapter 9: The Only Fighter**

Hiei awoke that morning to find that Rai was sitting at his feet, staring out the window. She had gotten dressed in fresh clothes. A navy blue tank top over white long-sleeved shirt with loose black pants to allow for movement.

"You might have woken me up." He said grumpily. Rai jumped and fell off the seat.

"Ow. It's about time you woke up. Although," she paused. "You're very cute when you're asleep." She finished with a smirk. She stood up and dusted herself off. "Not to mention your grip is strong. It took me about fifteen minutes to get up."

"Hn." He sat up and looked around him. There seemed to be no sign of Yasu. How odd. He was distracted when Rai kissed him on the cheek.

"Thanks Hiei. You couldn't have done any better last night." She looked into his crimson eyes.

A yawn startled both of them. They turned to see Yasu sitting up on the couch stretching. Her ponytail had come undone during the night and her hair was rather messy. She looked around, rubbing a sleepy eye. She saw Hiei and Rai staring at her incredulously.

"Oh, hello. Up with the sun as always, Rai?" She asked.

"When did you come in last night?" Rai asked.

"After you two fell asleep. It was an adorable scene." She said with a sleepy smirk. "I wonder who would pay for those pictures? Yusuke and Kuwabara would laugh their heads off. I'm sure Koenma and Botan would be interested as well. Not to mention some of your brothers would be very fascinated in knowing you slept with your boyfriend, too, Rai."

They both stood up. There were some very deadly daggers in those glares.

"Calm down. I didn't take any pictures. Neither did Kurama. I'm not really concerned in telling anyone." Yasu said with another yawn. "What's for breakfast?"

"Fox saw too?" Hiei asked. He seemed he was about to burst.

"Yes he did. So get over it. It would've been worse if I had woken you up, I suppose. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to use the restroom." She stood up, walked in, and closed the door.

"I guess we did forget that Yasu shares a room with me. It's our own faults." She said shrugging. She was still a little red with embarrassment. "You might want to go back to your room, come up with an excuse if you want to, and get ready for the tournament." She stood up and stretched, her shirt rose a little.

Hiei quickly left the room. Hopefully he could get in without too much of a fuss.

His hopes went unrealized. As soon as he entered the room, he was bombarded with questions about where he was all night. He didn't answer any of them. Although, Kurama had a very smug look on his face.

"Why don't you answer them, Hiei?" He asked, way too smug for his own good. Hiei simply glared at him. A knock on the door interrupted them. Yusuke ran to answer it.

It was Rai and Yasu. Yasu had her trademark sucker and Rai had her trademark smile. It was a relief to Hiei to see her with that instead of that look she had earlier.

"Hey guys! Did you all get a good night's sleep?" Rai asked cheerfully.

"Yeah. So what happened last night?" Yusuke asked.

"Last night? Uh…" Rai thought back to that night. "Um, I just wanted to be by myself for awhile. That's it."

"So Hiei wasn't with you?" Kuwabara asked. Rai went a little red, not too much though.

"Um, he was for awhile." She answered, less than truthfully. Yasu choked on her sucker. But after a second she regained composure.

"If you mean by awhile over ten hours." She muttered to herself quietly.

"What was that, Yasu?" Rai asked, appearing too cheerful to not know what she said.

"Nothing." She turned and added under her breath, "Curse your good hearing." Rai laughed in response.

"Good. Now on to business! I suppose everyone is as ready as they can be?" She asked, turning to the boys. Everyone said something along the lines of yes. "Good." She paused, thinking very hard. She seemed to be troubled about something.

"What's wrong?" Hiei asked. It couldn't be about her brother this time.

"Well, it's this. After the past couple of weeks, I have been, unknowingly, storing way too much energy. I've nearly reached my energy limit. If I don't release a lot of it soon, I may come down with something very much like a fever. Then I start letting of spasmodic bursts of energy, shorting out anything in the area."

"How long would this last?" Kurama asked.

"About two weeks if I'm lucky."

"And if you're not?"

"I don't know." She said shrugging. "But as long as I get rid of it in a fight, there will be no need to worry about that."

"Hey guys, what time does our fight start?" Yusuke asked.

"Uh, ten o'clock. Why?" Rai answered.

"Because it's nine thirty."

Rai looked at the boys. Yusuke and Kuwabara were still in their pajamas. This wasn't so good.

"Okay. Kuwabara, Yusuke, you get changed. Yasu and I will be waiting outside for you guys. Hurry up because they're not going to wait for us. We'll meet you in five." She held up five fingers for five minutes. Rai grabbed Yasu's arm and dragged her outside. Yasu already had her katana on her, but Rai had left her weapons in the room. She bolted through her belongings until she had found her shuriken and tanto.

They didn't need to wait long before the boys came out. It definitely looked like they had been in a hurry. But it was of no concern to the girls. They quickly raced out just as the other team stepped out. There was five of them.

"Both teams have entered the arena!" Loud shouts went up at the sound of the commentator's voice. The commentator was a female fox demon. She had reddish hair and aqua colored eyes.

"It's Koto!" Kuwabara said incredulously.

"You've seen her before?" Yasu asked.

"Yeah, she was a referee before, too!"

"First we have Team Shimaku, with Jun, Imuka, Heiki, Yusou, and Kuyu!" Loud cheers were raised all around in the coliseum.

"And on the opposing side, we have our guest team! Team Toshimo with Rai Toshimo, Yusuke Urameshi, Yasu Gihiratou, Hiei, Kurama, and their alternate, Kazuma Kuwabara!" There was a mix in the cheering. Some demons had recognized the names of Yusuke and maybe Kuwabara, some demons hated the humans and the demons that joined up with them, and some demons were catcalling for the girls. Some of the latter ones were very loud and rambunctious.

"Hey! Leave those pathetic humans and hang out with some real demons!" Was a particularly loud and distinct one.

Flashes of lightning appeared in and out of the arena. Lightning struck the demon that just shouted. Loud thunder rumbled as everything calmed down.

Rai had counted the exact number of seconds that the thunder rolled. She looked up to see her comrades staring at her.

"What? As much as I would've liked to do that, it wasn't me!"

"Then who was it?" Yusuke asked.

"It was Yukaru."

"How can you tell it was him? Have you seen him around?"

"No, I haven't. The flashy bit and the six-second roll of thunder is his signature!" Rai explained. She looked up in the crowd. He had to be there somewhere. She had no clue where, but it was comforting to know he was.

"Anyways, captains, step into the ring!" Rai and the one called Jun stepped into the ring as ordered. He was about ten inches taller than her and twice as wide. He seemed nearly human except for his yellow eyes and sharp fangs. He was a wolf demon from the looks of it.

"How about one-on-one elimination?" Rai offered.

"I don't mind, but are you sure about that decision?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm very sure about it."

"Alright." And with that, they each left the arena.

"The captains have chosen to do one-on-one elimination!" Koto shouted to the audience. They were drinking every bit of it.

"What are you thinking, Rai?" Yasu asked her in a hushed whisper.

"I have to do this. I'm at my maximum limit and I need to get rid of as much energy as possible." Rai told her. She turned to the others. "I'm going in first." Hiei looked at her. He seemed to be conflicting with himself on this. He thought about what she had told them earlier and what she just told Yasu. As much as he hated her doing this, she had to. She ran to the ring. Ready to fight.

A man with a small, thin stature entered the ring to fight her. He has black hair and the color of his eyes were unidentifiable. He bowed to her and she bowed back. He was the one called Kuyu. They took their fighting stances and were ready to fight. Koto received the signal.

"Begin the fight!"

* * *

Elf: We're going to be getting into some real action soon! I put that this was Action/Adventure for a reason! ... (starts singing)Baby love!Baby love! Baby love!

Kuronue: oo

Elf: It's a song in choir class. It's a short medley of those oldies. It's My Party, Mister Postman, and Baby Love. Hehe.

Kuronue: ... An interesting human, to say the very least.


	10. Round One

**Chapter 10: Round One**

Nothing happened for a second. And then, with a series of quick movements, Rai appeared behind Kuyu. But when she attacked, he was no longer there. She stumbled forward and looked around, bewildered. Suddenly a noise came from behind her, causing her to duck quickly. The air swished above her as a blade cut the air.

"Quite the moves you've got there." She commented as she jumped away.

"If you liked that one, wait until you see this." Again he disappeared. Rai cursed mentally. She blocked out all other noises. Another sound came from behind her, she ducked again. The same blade sliced the air where she had been a second ago. He disappeared again. This time, instead of ducking, Rai stabbed at the noise with her tanto. She heard a grunt and looked back to see what she had done.

She had stabbed Kuyu in the side. No where vital, just skin, but blood came out all the same. He snarled at her.

"That's it. The kid gloves are off!"

"Who said I was wearing any?" She said smartly. Before he could disappear again, she drew her second tanto and sliced at his heart.

He jumped back to avoid the blow, he was at the very edge of the ring. He slowly took the tanto out of his skin. "Nice dagger. How much damage do you expect to do to me with this? No matter. You can't attack me if you can't reach me." He disappeared and reappeared at the other end of the ring to prove his point.

"Idiot. You still have my tanto, and metal is a very good electricity conductor." He looked at her without a clue.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm a lightning demon. And metal conducts electricity." She pointed at the sky. "Lightning strike!" She pointed at the tanto in his hand and a flash of lightning blinded the arena. A loud scream could be heard from the ring.

When everyone was capable with the gift of vision at last, Kuyu had been fried to a crisp and Rai was wiping off the blood on her tanto. A short pause had been sudden filled with some interesting cheers, certainly a lot more catcalls, except not as enthusiastic as before in fear of being stricken down.

"Next opponent." She said calmly.

* * *

The one called Heiki stepped into the ring next. This one was, seemingly, human looking. That is, if you ignored the black claws, completely blood red eyes, green scaly tail, and the green mane of hair. He was also a towering thirteen feet tall. 

"So, how's the weather up there?" She called up to him. He smirked.

"Fine, how's the weather down there?" He called back.

"Can't complain, except ever since you walked in, it smelled pretty bad." She answered. He growled.

"You might want be more careful or I might step on you." He snarled.

"Start the fight!" Koto called out.

Heiki started the fight by swinging his tail at Rai. She leapt up to dodge it only to become to a victim of his fist. He had jumped up to be above her and he, she being unable, landed a punch into her stomach and drove into the ground.

"I have to admit, I didn't such a move from someone as big as you. Pulling a feint with your tail, only to jump and punch me to the ground. Usually someone looking like you would be big and stupid." She said as she emerged shakily from the small crater that she created.

"I'll take that as a compliment" He chuckled. Then he went into his next assault. He launched a fist at her towards the ground. She was gone before his fist was got even close. A jolting shock rang through his body. He turned around and fell down to one knee.

"Surprised?" She asked, taunting the demon.

"Maybe."

"Well, that's only a little taste of what's to come." She dodged another punch. "Sorry I've got to do this." She brought her hands in front of her, lightning sparked in them, and slowly drew her right hand back. Heiki turned to face her. "Lightning arrow!"

The arrow of lightning flew at him, but unexpectedly glanced off his chest.

"Oh boy." Rai muttered to herself. "A change of plans will need to be made." Without hesitation, he threw another punch at her. She was barely able to avoid getting nicked.

He swatted her with his tail and succeeded.

She braced herself for impact, but was surprised when she felt herself get caught in his fist. She opened her eyes to see him grinning at her.

"Time for lunch." He opened his mouth to bite her.

"Not so fast!" She pointed a free arm at the sky, "Lightning strike!" She pointed into his mouth. Another blinding flash of lightning and Heiki was on the ground dead. Rai slowly emerged from his fist.

"No one tries to eat me and gets away with it." She said, kicking his hand. She smoothed herself and looked at Koto when she was checking if he was dead. Koto gave her a nod. "Next up please."

* * *

Hiei had noticed she seemed to start wearing down a little, but she kept it from everyone else, still looking determined. 

This time Yusou stepped to the ring. Yusou had pointed elf-like ears, dark brown hair, sharp blue eyes, and had hawk-like wings protruding from his back. Due to this, he didn't wear a shirt to hide his deeply developed chest.

Rai cocked her head to the sky. This was extremely odd. The demon was obviously a bird demon with an obvious disadvantage. So why did they send him in? She took another look at what was left of his teammates and saw that other than Jun, there was a fish-like demon. Not a very fast one by the looks of it.

"I have one question for you before we start." She paused. "How smart are you?" Her opponent didn't answer. As Yasu would say, joy! The silent treatment. They took their fighting stances.

"Start the fight!" Koto called out again.

Yusou startled Rai by swinging a foot to knock her off her feet. It worked. Rai fell on her side. He fell up about five feet into the air and stopped. He fell like a stone to drop kick Rai. Rai barely dodged it.

She stood up. Before she could blink, he launched another assault of kicks to her torso. She brought up her arms in time to block his assault. She grit her teeth. His kicks were pretty hard. He finally let down his foot, she took a chance and aimed a punch to his stomach. He leapt away and she only nicked him.

She cursed to herself. Then it clicked. She would have smacked herself in the head it was so simple. She ran over to him and went for his feet. It worked to her plan. The fool took to the air and stayed about ten feet above her.

"Lightning strike!" She pointed at the sky and gathered the electric energy, but this time she didn't point her target. There was no doubt in her mind that he would dodge. Now, she didn't even know where it would attack. It could attack her, or her opponent. It wouldn't go out side the ring.

He looked lost. He felt something was different, but he was at a lost for words. But then again, he always was.

Then it happened. A blinding flash hit the stadium again. A searing shriek rent the arena as Yusou fell.

"Whew." She wiped away the sweat from her brow. Those strikes were really getting to her. She nodded to Koto who was finishing the count. One more to go.

"We're going to go blind and deaf because of you, Rai!" She heard Yasu shout at her. She shrugged in response.

"Eh, you'll get over it. Besides, it's better than a dead me, don't you think so?" Her friend didn't respond. Goes to show that she agreed, but didn't want to admit it.

"Hope you're ready for me, girl. Because this time, you're not walking out alive." The deep voice of Jun startled her. She turned to look at him. He seemed pretty angry. She suddenly noticed a flickering tail behind him. It was a deep chocolate brown just like his hair. "You're definitely not leaving alive."

* * *

"Begin the match!" Koto shouted out a different phrase this time. 

Jun launched himself at Rai, knocking her down to he ground, then leaped back before she could shock him.

Rai stood up shakily. She was slowing down and she knew it. After three straight fights, this would definitely be the most difficult. He drew a sword, from seemingly nowhere, and attacked her before she could recuperate from the first. She got nicked by the blade as she dodged. He was going at her too quickly for her to generate a lightning attack. Another attack, but no where near as close as the first one.

_Man, he's really ticked. How close was he to his teammates?_ She thought this as she dodged another attacked. His attacks were getting closer and closer.

Finally he backed off. Both were panting because the ferocity of the attacks. He attacked as soon as he gained breath. This time she drew both of her tanto to fend off his onslaught. She pushed him back and tossed a lightning-charged barge of shuriken at him. Several hit their mark.

"Is that the best you can do? I've seen toddlers with worse attacks." He laughed.

Rai scowled. Many others would be dead seeing how many had hit him. There was only one choice, but she was sorely worn down. _What to do? If I make this attack, I'll be out of energy. If he dodges, I'm done. If I don't, I won't stand much of a chance. Well, let's hope Luck favors me today. _She raised a hand to the sky. A thread of lightning came to her hand. She pulled the lightning to make it larger and larger, sapping up some of what was left of her energy. The giant ball of electrical energy grew and finally stopped.

"Lightning Destruction!"

It hit before he even knew what was happening. He was on the floor dead.

The fight was done. Imuka had bolted when he saw the ball of lightning. Koto didn't even need to bother counting. It was completely obvious who had won.

"And Team Toshimo wins the fight match of the tournament!" Koto shouted out. There were lots of cheering, but still plenty of booing in the crowd.

Rai turned to see her friends running towards, shouting things along the lines of congratulations. She smiled at them.

"Good news guys! I don't need to worry about shorting out!" She paused and grimaced. "Bad news is, I don't have too much energy left." She fell.

Hiei caught her before she could hit the ground. He was worried unto he caught the sound of her snoring peacefully.

"Well, what do you know? The idiot's gone and fallen asleep on us." Yasu said, shaking her head. "Oh well, she deserves it."

* * *

Elf: Heheh. You should all count yourselves lucky that I didn't stop in the middle of the fight scenes! All the fighting chapters are going to take a bit longer to come out then the normal ones, for obvious reasons.

Kuronue: That girl has a lot of energy.

Elf: You bet! Heh, she's so lucky! (does sparkly eyes) She gets that hot piece of fire demon all to herself!

Kuronue: (sweatdrop)

Elf: I was having fun with my sketchpad and drew a lovely picture of Kurama, the awesome, red head fox! I also drew the true Seishou too. His hair is fun!

Kuronue: (more sweatdrops)


	11. Watching

**Chapter 11: Watching**

The whole group accompanied Hiei in taking Rai to their hotel rooms. Hiei was, obviously, very annoyed by this action. On the way, they met up with someone they didn't think they'd ever personally meet.

A tall, blonde haired man stood in the hallway. His eyes were closed and he wore light blue clothing, a button up shirt and loose pants.

"Who are you?" Yusuke asked belligerently.

"My name is Yukaru. Whether you believe it or not, I was the cause of the lightning before the fights started. I left the stadium after Rai won so it'd be easier to congratulate her, but it seems that her sleepy nature got the better of her." He laughed. He opened his eyes and they were blue. They were like Rai's only a deeper blue.

"How do we know that you're Yukaru?" Yasu asked. Rai wasn't currently awake, so she wasn't able to verify this.

"I could tell you every ticklish spot on her. I can also make her say my name in her sleep." He said with a smile.

"I bet Hiei here would love to know that." Yusuke snickered. Hiei glared at him. If Rai wasn't in his arms right now, Yusuke would be dead.

The one that called himself Yukaru walked up to Hiei and knelt down to Rai's level. He stuck his finger out and poked Rai in some spot Hiei didn't quite catch.

"Un," She wiggled away from the offending finger, "Yukaru." She muttered this sleepily. Yukaru chuckled.

"It works every time." Yukaru began to examine Hiei. After a minute he stepped back. "I approve. Congratulations." He said, cryptically. He turned and walked off. Everyone stared after him.

"Rai has some interesting brothers. Do you have any clue what he was talking about Hiei?" Kurama asked.

"Hn." Hiei didn't answer his question. He had a clue, but he wasn't going to tell any of the others about it. He had a suspicious feeling that Yukaru wasn't congratulating Rai just now. "We'd better get Rai bandaged up." He said, changing the subject.

"She did get hit by Jun's sword." Yasu agreed. "I would suggest putting her in my room. You boys get too noisy for her to rest properly."

"No, we don't." Kuwabara said offended.

"I rest my case." She said shrugging as she opened the door. Hiei set her down on a bed. Suddenly he was pushed out of the room by Yasu.

"What are you doing?" He asked angrily.

"Boyfriend or not, Rai is a girl and she's been hit in places that shouldn't be seen by men. Out!" Yasu slammed the door. Hiei stood there for a second. He was surprised when Yasu opened the door again. "I'll tell you when I'm done. But for now, leave." She closed the door again.

Hiei went to the boys' room muttering. He walked past everyone, went to the window and stared out.

"Rai's a really good fighter. I'd hate to be on the receiving end of those lightning attacks." Kuwabara commented on her display.

"Yasu did say before that she'd rather be with Rai, than against her." Kurama agreed. He looked over to Hiei. The usually stolid fire demon was obviously worried. He was genuinely worried about the girl that slept in the next room. "What do you think, Hiei?" He asked him.

"She has some skill." He said, still not looking from the window. Why'd that girl have to be so reckless? She could have gotten herself killed a number of times today. Then she had to scare him when she fell asleep. That girl had a strange habit of falling asleep at the strangest times. There was a countless amount of times when she'd be wide awake one moment and then fast asleep in the next moment.

What everyone was talking about at the moment, he didn't care. Suddenly a hand waved in his face.

"Hello? Earth to Hiei? Are you there?" Yusuke's voice broke through, much to Hiei's annoyance.

"Get your hand out of my face before I cut it off." He threatened menacingly.

"There he is." Yusuke said as he snapped his hand back when he saw Hiei's katana. "Just to let you know, Yasu came in a minute ago telling us that she's finished bandaging Rai." Hiei was gone before Yusuke had a chance to blink.

Yasu looked up as she heard the door open. She saw Hiei start walking over to Rai.

"You could knock once in a while, Hiei. It wouldn't hurt." She snapped at him.

"Hn. How is she?" He ignored what she had said. He didn't feel like arguing with her. After all, he just wanted to see Rai.

"She's sleeping. She slept all the way through me bandaging her. But that's a relief because she'd always fidget when she was awake. Very annoying." She stood up. "Now that you're here, I'll just go." She walked out the door, leaving Hiei alone with Rai.

He sat down next to her bed and looked at her. The blankets had been brought up all the way to her shoulders. Her bloody clothes had been placed on the nightstand, next to the bed. She was sleeping very peacefully. He brushed a strand of hair out of her face. His hand lingered on her face.

"Hiei. Hmm." She muttered in her sleep. Hiei nearly blushed at the thought of her dreaming of him. But all of that changed in the next moment.

She grabbed his hand and rolled on her side, away from him. As a result, Hiei was dragged across the bed. His arm bent in an awkward position. She wrapped both arms around his one and snuggled up to his hand as if it was a teddy bear. His position was rather uncomfortable. He was currently on his side, facing her back, while his arm was being snuggled by the sleeping girl. He tried to extract his arm from her, but it didn't work. This would be very embarrassing if someone was to walk in just now.

During this event, food had been brought into the boys' room.

"I'll go ask Hiei if he would like some food." Kurama said as he stood up and left the room. He opened the door and walked in. "Hiei, there's some food if you'd like some." He said, careful not to wake Rai.

"I can't." Was the reply.

Kurama's eyes widen when he saw the predicament the boy was in. Hiei was next to Rai, on the bed, currently glaring at him.

"You could have waited until she was awake." Kurama said, trying not to laugh.

"This isn't funny." He said, still glaring at him.

"I'll just tell everyone that you're preoccupied at the moment." Kurama said, leaving Hiei to his problem.

"Get back here!" Hiei shouted to no one. Kurama already left. "Curse that fox." He muttered to himself. Now, all he could do was wait until she woke up, or perhaps Yasu came in and separated them.

It was a couple of hours before anything happened, so Hiei had two hours to think of very villainous ways to kill anyone who walked through that door.

"Ah, so that's what Kurama meant when he said you couldn't come to eat. I thought he might've meant that you didn't want to." Yasu said as she watched Hiei try to struggle free. "That's not going to help. When that girl grabs something in her sleep, she doesn't let go. You're just going to have to wait until she wakes up." She chuckled.

Hiei gave her a glare and turned away. He didn't like being seen like this. He heard movement on the other bed.

"Hope she doesn't cut off the circulation in your arm before she wakes up." And with that she turned off the light. Hiei mentally cursed.

* * *

Rai opened her eyes to a dark room. The sun was filtering through the curtains. She sat up. She felt an arm fall down to her waist. She looked down to see who the owner of the hand was. She jumped in alarm when she saw Hiei sleeping next to her. She accidentally pushed him off the bed.

"Ouch! What was that for?" He shouted at her.

"You were sleeping with me in my bed!" She shouted, her face was red.

"I was just sitting here, yesterday evening, and you grabbed my hand and dragged me onto the bed. It wasn't by choice! You wouldn't let go of me!" He shouted back. They turned their heads when they heard a yawn.

"Could you argue a little louder? I could almost sleep. What's the problem?" Yasu said, rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes.

"Hiei was in my bed!"

"Of course he was. You grabbed him in your sleep. You should be thankful Yusuke or Kuwabara didn't walk in. I imagine they would have had a ball." She said, yawning at separate intervals. "By the way, while we were heading up after the match, we met your brother, Yukaru."

"Oh, what did he say?"

"Well, since we weren't sure whether to believe him or not, we asked him to prove it. He tickled you in a certain spot. You said his name in your sleep. Then he was looking at Hiei. He said something about approving something and congratulations. Then he left." Yasu told her.

"He said he approved of something?"

"Yes. He didn't say what he approved of though. Are all the older brothers cryptic or something?" Yasu asked.

"That's just like Yukaru. He hasn't changed a bit." Rai groaned.

"Would you mind sharing, or is it something I'd be better off not knowing?"

"You'd probably be better off knowing."

"Whatever, but we should probably get changed and watch the matches today so we can see who are next opponents are." Yasu said, getting out of bed and walking to her things.

"So that means Hiei's out." But when Rai looked up, he was gone. "Joy." She muttered.

"Hey! That's my line."

* * *

Elf: Hehehe. I love the part when Rai grabs Hiei in her sleep. It's so funny! Yusuke would've definitely had a ball. Hehe. Yasu isn't much of a morning person. (huggles sketchbook)

Kuronue: (sweatdrop) She has a lot of fun with that sketchbook.

Elf: Hey! I love my sketchbook! I make pretty pictures of hot guys in it! But I still have a lot more to go before I can hope of completing everyone on my list.

Kuronue: (more sweatdrops) Okay...

Elf: (glomps Kuronue) You're so awesome, Batman!

Kuronue: Ack! Thanks. I think.


	12. New Learning

**Chapter 12: New Learning**

The group was, once again, traveling through the hallway. Hiei was more hostile than usual, though only three of them knew why. Falling out of bed that you didn't want to be in at the moment isn't the best way to start the day. Rai decided to keep a little distance from him.

"So the sleeping beauty is finally awake, eh Rai?" A familiar voice came from behind them. Rai turned around.

"Yukaru!" She shouted gleefully as she hugged him. "It's been awhile!"

"Well, it didn't help that no one knew where you and Yasu were. Seishou was supposed to find out, but something happened." The blonde haired lightning demon responded, ruffling her hair.

"Is this gonna happen with every brother she comes across?" Yusuke asked Yasu.

"Probably. But you have to let it go. The oldest ones aren't around very often. I never saw them when I was at her home." Yasu answered with a shrug.

"Uh, Yukaru, why'd you come to the Dark Tournament this year?" Rai asked her eldest brother.

"I had heard that Team Urameshi was competing again this year, only with a different name. You can imagine my surprise when I heard the name. I needed to see for myself." Yukaru looked at the four boys, "You managed to create quite a stir in the Demon World. Two humans and two 'traitors' defeating so many? The word spreads around quickly. Not to mention I was also at the tournament when you were competing as well."

"Oh that's right! I remember you telling Naku and Marakai about it! Their eyes were as big as saucers when you told them." Rai said with a looking of enlightenment on her face.

"Joy. Are we going to stand here all day or shall we continue on?" Yasu asked, breaking the sweet family reunion. Rai laughed sheepishly while Yukaru smiled softly. They continued walking. On the way, they found out their fight had not been the first and Round two would take place after that day.

"Oh, I also happened to see Lord Koenma in the stands. He had some rather loud women with him as well. They made my ears ring. There was one with blue hair and I believe the rest had brown hair. Four in total. I didn't quite get a good look. I didn't manage to speak with them either. I was going to ask them how they knew you."

Rai chuckled.

They finally reached the stands just in time to catch the first match. It was Team Hiraki and Team Urajima. They took their seats relatively high up. Not many demons noticed them as they took their seats, which was a blessing.

The group didn't really cheer for either team. Rai could have sworn she saw a smirk on Hiei's face a couple times when one team a particularly nasty hit. _He seems to really enjoy these things. I wonder if there's anything else about him that he's kept hidden. Well, it must be a lot. I know hardly anything about his past. I don't think he's told me about all of his powers, or why he always wears that headband. It seems like he hardly trusts anyone. I know he trusts Kurama. Absolutely no one would be able to tease Hiei like he did if he didn't trust them. I wonder what happened to him to make him so distrustful._ Another shout arose from the crowd, jolting her out of her thoughts. She suddenly realized she had been staring at him and looked at the arena with a hint of red in her complexion.

Hiei noticed this. Rai did have a look of some deep thought on her face while she was looking at him. He wondered if he should use his jagan. He quickly pushed that idea out of his head. He knew he could leave her to her thoughts without worrying about her. He trusted the girl beyond anyone, but he felt like he couldn't share his past with her. If she knew, she might be so horrified as to leave him. After everything they went through together, he wouldn't let that happen. He sidled closer to her without her noticing. She seemed to be so intent on keeping her attention on the match that it would have taken a loudspeaker to get through.

"What are ya doin', Hiei?" Kuwabara's loud voice seemed to just break through everything. Rai looked over to Hiei. The fire demon glared at Kuwabara.

"Planning your death, idiot." Hiei snarled at him. Rai giggled. Kuwabara stood up in outrage at Hiei's attitude. He was promptly sent back into his seat by Yukaru.

"I'm trying to watch. The fight has just gotten interesting!" He shouted as he boxed Kuwabara in the head. Kuwabara was quiet for the rest of the time, nursing his head.

"You know, Rai, I think I might like this brother." Hiei admitted to Rai.

"Don't say that too soon, Hiei. Yukaru can get pretty wild when riled up. I suppose you'll see sometime." Rai said with a chuckle.

The match ended just in time for lunch. The winning team was Team Urajima. Yukaru was gone before the match was officially called.

"Does he always do that, Rai?" Yasu asked her when they got somewhere they could hear each other.

"Yeah. Every brother has some trait that's like lightning. His is trait to just disappear. Just like a magician. Now you see him, now you don't." Rai explained. "Naku and Marakai have really built up that much in their powers. Currently they both seem to be fast and have inexhaustible energy. They're so difficult to keep track of." She added with a sigh. "To be honest, I kind of miss those two right now."

"Yusuke and Kuwabara can take up in their stead." Yasu said with a smirk, looking at the two boys mentioned.

"Hey! We are not little boys!" Yusuke said indignantly.

"You sure act like one."

"Enough, enough, let's just get some lunch." Rai said smiling. "You remind me of Seishou telling one of them off." Yasu turned and looked Rai straight in the eyes. "Is something wrong, Yasu?"

"Stop reminiscing. You're not helping yourself."

"I guess you're right." She said with a sigh. Suddenly her countenance brightened considerably, "Let's go eat lunch!"

Lunch was not an unusual event. They ate in the hotel's restaurant. Although nothing out of the ordinary really occurred, everyone was quiet. They were thinking about what was to come in their fight that would take place tomorrow.

"It's nearly time for the next match to start. We'd better hurry if we want to watch it." Kurama said, waking everyone from their thoughts.

"Oh yes." Yasu said softly. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

The match was Team Kazami and Team Mur. The match was exciting and lasted longer than the first one. It seemed that Team Mur was the favorite for this match. None of Team Toshimo knew too much of why. Until, that is, they watched them fight.

Each member of Team Mur was a bloodthirsty, killing-machine from the looks of it. Though, Yasu caught a wave of sorrow from the members. _Maybe we weren't the only ones forced into this position. Either that, they feel pity that the opponent must die. They might not be the same as any other demons at this tournament. Especially the ones sitting with us in this crowd. We'll see how this turns out._

Team Kazami didn't stand a chance. They were soon dealt with and Team Kazami won.

"That concludes Round One, folks! Come back tomorrow morning for some more chaotic fighting!" Koto's cheery voice rang through, signaling the end of it.

The group quickly left and arrived at their rooms. Rai went to the girls' room straightaway. She was still tired from the match the day before.

"That's the matter, Hiei? Are you not going to join her?" Yusuke said joking.

Hiei glared at him. This might be, in fact, the first night Hiei actually slept in the boys' room. Much to Yasu's relief. He may have been Rai's, but she was uncomfortable with the fact he kept sleeping in their room.

"Hn." He turned away and walked to the window. He wasn't in the best of moods, thanks to Yusuke's teasing.

"May I speak with you, Kurama?" Yasu asked, totally out of the blue.

"Why of course, Yasu." He stood up and followed her outside of the room.

"It would probably be safer to talk in my room. That is, if Rai has fallen asleep by now. I doubt she would stay up. She usually falls asleep within five seconds of hitting her bed." She said, leading him into her room.

She walked over to Rai. She poked Rai's side.

"Unh." She groaned sleepily and rolled on her side.

Yasu nodded to Kurama. The girl was dead to the world right now.

"So what did you want to talk about, Yasu?"

"It's about Team Mur. Did you notice anything different from any other strategies you've seen so far?" She asked in a hushed whisper.

"Now that you mention it, there was something different in the attitudes."

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about. While watching them, I noticed that there seemed to be a sort of," she paused, "sadness to their fighting. It was like they didn't choose to fight, or they felt pity for the ones they had to kill."

"You believe so?"

"I've seen very different ways in people who killed because they wanted to, and people who kill because they had to. I should know." She stopped there. She knew how it was to have to kill when you didn't want to. And she had seen the ecstasy of those that wanted to. "I've seen both ways and I enjoyed neither." She added, some sadness creeping into her voice.

She was surprised when Kurama swept her into a tight hug. His arms encircled around her waist.

"You're different from any other girl I know. And I love you for that." He whispered to her. She could feel his breath on her cheek. "I shall never let you go."

She responded by wrapping her arms around his neck. She closed her eyes. "Thank you." She opened her eyes and lifted her head. She gave him a gentle kiss on the lips. She pulled her head away slightly and leaned against his strong chest.

He hooked a finger under her chin and brought her face up. He kissed her on the forehead. "Good night, Yasu."

"Good night, Kurama." She said with a final squeeze before letting him walk to his own room.

* * *

Elf: Yay! Kurama and Yasu squishy!

Kuronue: So Kurama finally got himself a girl. Heheh.

Elf: (whcks Kuronue)

Kuronue: Why'd you do that?

Elf: You made me cry this morning!

Kuronue: (more than a little puzzled) Oh... I'm sorry. (mutters under breath) Human girls are so odd.

Elf: I was thinking about writing a fic about when Batman and Youko Kurama went on their last heist and Batman... You know... What do you, my readers, think about this idea? It would be sad and my first kinda angsty story.


	13. Round Two Part One

Hey all! I apologize for making a really stupid mistake. I had accidently uploaded this chapter on the first part of this series. Gomen nasai. Thank you to BKKtE for pointing this out. Otherwise I would have been totally obvlivious to this horrid mistake for another day or two. (Hands BKKtE a cookie.) Thank you so much!

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* * *

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Chapter 13: Round Two

Yasu woke up to see Rai's happy face hovering over her. She muttered sleepily and turned over.

"Come on, Yasu! Today is round two! We can't be late!"

Yasu still didn't respond. Rai huffed to herself for a second.

"Heh, stay there. I've got an idea." She walked away from the bed. Yasu's eyes snapped open and bolted out of bed.

"Ah, drats! It was a good one too!" Rai snapped her fingers.

"Whatever." Yasu growled at the playfully whining lightning demon. "I suppose you're back up on energy." She said flatly.

"Yep! Whenever I just get rid of it, it doesn't take too long to come back. Especially if I've rested." Rai said, way too cheerful for this early in the morning. Yasu snarled at her. Her voice was getting irritating.

"Oh, I'll just let you get dressed. I'll go see if the boys are up. If only one of them's awake, we can have waking up the rest." She said as she walked out.

Yasu stretched while yawning. She wasn't the quickest one to wake up. She pulled out some clothes to fight in. It was her white sweatshirt and her faded blue pants. She pulled off the wrinkled clothes she slept in and pulled on her new ones. After yawning some more, she pulled out a brush and got to work on her hair. After having so many years of practice, she speeded through the task. She brought her soft brown hair into a tight ponytail and tied her customary red bandana behind her black bangs.

She nearly stumbled into the restroom. She turned on the cold water. After holding her hands in the clear, running water, she brought it up into her face. A hand whipped out to grab a towel and dry off her face. She emerged from the restroom in time to hear some loud shouts from the room. She chuckled to herself.

A second later, Rai came into the room, calm and collected, and slammed the door behind her. Yasu suddenly noticed that Rai's face was red.

"What happened?"

"Nothing." Rai went to the task of digging out her weapons. Yasu raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing, huh?" Yasu folded her arms. "You are going to tell me yourself, or I can ask one of the boys to do it. The choice is yours. I don't care who I hear it from, personally."

"Alright! I went in the boys' room, and Hiei was the only one awake. So I was talking to him. He was sitting at the window and I was standing in front of him. Hiei stood up. We were just innocently talking when someone pushes me from behind. I fall straight into Hiei. Thing is, we both fell. So I fell on top of him and we kind of, accidentally, ended up kissing. It would have been alright if we were the only ones awake, but." She paused.

"And?" Yasu inquired further.

"It would have been alright, but it turns out, everyone was awake. And everyone was laughing. Okay, so it was just Yusuke and Kuwabara that were all-out laughing, but you could see Kurama chuckling to himself." She stopped when she saw Yasu was trying to contain herself.

Rai went to her bed and picked up a pillow. In a flash, Rai was beating Yasu with it.

"Come on! We need to go down to the arena before we're late and made to forfeit!" Yasu shouted at Rai, snatching the pillow from her. She quickly smoothed herself and walked out the door, katana in hand. Rai followed suit.

"Come on! Admit it! You enjoyed it!" Yusuke was teasing Hiei mercilessly. Hiei looked like he was about to kill someone. Yusuke was having a lot of fun with the event.

"If you don't mind, I'll just go to the arena. See you there. You'd better not be late or else I'm going to have fun torturing each and every one of you until you die slowly." Rai said as she walked past the boys. Yasu simply shook her head as the boys quickly ran to catch up.

They were up against Team Azumi. Both captains agreed to one-on-one battling. As soon as one match was over, they would send another one in. And it was Yasu's turn to fight.

Her opponent was quick on his feet. His skin was hard and red, his dark eyes stood out. He was about, maybe six-foot in all. But height was nothing to Yasu. She faced him fearlessly.

"A pretty little thing like you shouldn't fight, but stay at home and wait for your man." The demon laughed at her. Yasu's eyes flashed maliciously. In a quick instant, the fight was over. Yasu had separated his head from his body.

"No one tells me what to do. And I don't like to be called 'pretty little thing' by anybody." She spat at the corpse. A piece of cloth somehow appeared in her hand. She wiped the blade of her katana with it before sheathing the bright blade.

"Nice job, Yasu!" Rai said happily.

"Feh. That match took twice as long than it should have." Yasu stated. Rai chuckled.

"Oh well. Not everything can go your way."

It was Yusuke's turn next. His opponent came up to his waist. Yusuke stared at the miniscule thing.

"Heh, short enough there, midget?" Yusuke joked.

"My name is Hijin. Don't let my size fool you, human. Because behind this short exterior, there's power."

"Let the fight begin!" Koto shouted from outside the ring.

As soon as the match started, Hijin began to disappear. Soon, he was completely invisible. Yusuke looked around himself, frantically searching for his invisible opponent. He heard a chuckle come from behind him Yusuke turned and punched. But he hit nothing.

"Heh, what's the matter? Can't see me? Heh, too bad, human."

"Come out where I can se you, coward!" Yusuke demanded to his unseen foe.

"I think not. It's fun toying with your tiny brain." With some invisible weapon, Hijin slashed at Yusuke, achieving a direct hit. Yusuke yelled out in pain. Again, Yusuke looked around him, searching for anything to help him.

Out of nowhere, Yusuke saw speckles of a red liquid floating in middle air. Those red spots were most likely his blood. _Gotcha!_ He pointed his index finger and took aim.

"Reigun!" He shouted, firing off a great blast of spirit energy, sending Hijin straight into the wall. Koto began the count, but he didn't rise.

"Hah! Hard to hide if you've got something on you that isn't invisible, isn't it?" Yusuke had a full grin on his face.

"Maybe, Yusuke, but you need to rest before you lose even more blood." Rai reprimanded him.

Kurama was next up to bat. Yasu was definitely watching this one. She had been unconscious for most of the time he fought Himimaru and she had only seen Youko Kurama fight. She hadn't gotten to see much of his tactics over the time she knew him. This was a bit of a new experience.

Kurama's opponent was a bit odd. He was entirely blue, wore only black pants, and had green eyes that glowed for some odd reason.

"Do you have a death wish?" His voice was low, rumbling, and gravelly.

"Not particularly. I'd prefer not to die, considering I know someone who would very much like to bring me back to life and kill me again, just for dying the first time." Kurama responded, casting a quick glance at Yasu.

"Begin the match!" Koto cried out.

* * *

Elf: Sorry to cut you off there, folks! But I wanted to update before too long and my brain died on me. (The funeral is Tuesday. You're all invited!

Kuronue: If you killed your brain, you would currently be dead.

Elf: So? (mutters to self)Stupid technicalities. Anyways, I've been working on my story where my Batman... I haven't quite gotten to that part, but I'm getting there. You knows when I'll post it. (shrugs)


	14. Round Two Part Two

His opponent was first to act. A swift jab was aimed at Kurama's stomach. It was quickly sidestepped. But as Kurama sidestepped him, a kick was launched into his back, sending him forward.

Kurama quickly regained his footing and stood up to face his opponent. A full-blown smirk had taken the place of any expression there had been before. Kurama looked at his opponent quizzically.

Blue hands joined together as a blue ball formed, getting larger and larger. "Water Blaze Typhoon!" A swirling, towering mass of water headed straight at the poor fox. Kurama looked side to side, quickly coming up with a plan.

Instead of simply attacking Kurama, the water encompassed the fighters.

"This way, no one shall witness your death, and your dignity shall be saved." That gravelly voice came from behind him. In a flash, Kurama drew his rose whip. A loud crack resounded within the walls of water as the whip wrapped around the blue demon's wrist.

"I'm more difficult to beat than some of your opponents." The whip's razor sharp thorns cut into the blue skin, drawing red blood. Kurama pulled on the whip, yanking his opponent across the arena to the other side.

Somehow, the whip released him, allowing him to continue. He drew a short wakizichi. He lunged at Kurama, but only slashed his arm. Again, he lunged. This time, Kurama had figured out the style and knew exactly how to counter it.

As the opposing demon lunged, Kurama took action with his whip. There was no dodging. Kurama was, again, slashed, but this time in the stomach while his opponent was cut to shreds.

As his remains fell to the ground, the water wall fell, revealing the outcome.

"You okay, Kurama?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes, I'm fine." He responded with a smile.

"What are you talking about? You got yourself injured." Yasu commented, giving Kurama a dirty look.

"It's nothing. I'll be in perfect condition soon enough." Kurama turned his smile to Yasu.

"You'd better be."

Next up to bat was Hiei. The fire entity stepped onto the battlefield silently. His opponent was about the size of one of his previous partners, Goki, and had green skin with darker green spots. The look on his face was not a very intelligent one.

"How'd you traitors and humansget this far into the tournament?" His voice didn't sound very intelligent either. Hiei hated him already.

"How'd someone as stupid as you get this far?" Hiei responded. The green hulk scowled at the short demon.

"Let the battle begin!" Koto, again, signaled the start of the fight.

Hiei's opponent made the first move. He rushed Hiei, bringing his fists down to smash Hiei's head in. But instead of the black-haired head, his fists hit the ground.

"As I said, stupid." Hiei's voice came from behind. He swung his fists again to catch Hiei in the side. Again, he missed.

"I'm tired of this." A flash of light reflected off the blade of his katana, blinding his opponent. Hiei took the opportunity to strike.

The body of his opponent fell to the ground, cut into sixteen exact pieces.

"The first fight of Round Two goes to Team Toshimo!" Koto shouted to the crowd.

"Alright, Hiei! Nice victory." Rai congratulated him. "I wish I could have gotten a round though."

"Heh, do you actually think we'd let you get all the shots?" Yasu looked at her friend critically.

"Eh," she shrugged, "there's always a hope."

* * *

Elf: Yup! this part is short alright. It's so short, Hiei's taller than it!

Kuronue: Why do you make fun of him when he's your favorite character?

Elf: ... Two reasons... One, because I can. And two... Well, it's true.

Kuronue: (sweatdrop)

Elf: By the way, I'm sorry for the long delay in updating. I couldn't get on the computer enough to do some decent typing. It won't happen again! ... If it does... I'll make sure to put in some really funny stuff, or perhaps more squishy scenes (Those are funny to write), to make up for it.


	15. New Developments

**Chapter 14: New Developments**

"Heh, that was some great battling. Although, we didn't get to see any of your fight, Kurama." Rai said happily.

The group was in the hallway, near their hotel rooms. They heard a scream from behind them. As they turned to see what was wrong, Yusuke was tackled by a brown blur.

"Ack!" He shouted in surprised. Now that the brown blur stopped moving, they were able to identify what it was, or rather who.

It was a female demon covered in chocolate brown fur. It was obvious from her appearance she was a cat demon. She had cat ears happily perked on top of her head and a long tail twisting happily behind her. Her arms were wrapped around Yusuke's neck. Instead of five-fingered hands, she had cat paws, complete with the sharp claws that were just barely visible because they had retracted. She had blonde hair that contrasted sharply with her brown fur and light green eyes. She wore a complete white set of clothes: a tank top and pants. She wore no shoes, considering her feet were also fur-covered paws.

Yusuke looked at her like she was crazy.

"Oh Yusuke! I'm so glad I finally get to meet you!" She exclaimed with a happy smile on her face.

"Um, that's nice, but would you get off of me?"

The girl reluctantly let go. "You were really great out there! I loved every minute of your fight!"

"It appears that Kurama is no longer the only one with fan girls." Rai said, a smirk was full-blown across her face. This was very amusing to watch. "Congratulations, Yusuke."

"Oh, by the way," the new demon said, turning to everyone else, "If you want to see some real fighting, I suggest you watch Team Unmei. Team Unmei is the favorite to win this year. See ya, Yusuke!" And with that, she bounced off, leaving them be.

"That was just odd." Yasu commented. "Girls like that are just embarrassing."

"But shall we watch this Team Unmei?" Kurama asked. Yasu looked at him.

"I suppose we'll go on ahead. I imagine Yasu will want Kurama all bandaged up before he goes anywhere else." She grinned at the female fire demon. "I want to see what's so special about this Unmei team, so let's go!" She dragged the others off.

"Rai has absolutely no subtlety whatsoever!" Yasu quietly seethed. Kurama chuckled. She turned to Kurama, "How are your wounds doing?"

"Fine. You didn't get hurt, did you?" He asked in return. "In the excitement, I never got to ask."

"No injuries. Let's get yours bandaged up so you don't bleed everywhere." And together they walked into the girls' room.

Yasu pushed Kurama onto a blue couch and walked to her bags. After ruffling through her belongings, she retrieved a roll of gauze and a small container. She walked over to him.

"Off with your shirt." She commanded shortly. Kurama looked at her for a second and complied. Yasu first turned her attention to his arm wound. She opened the container and put some of the contents on the wound. There was a short intake of breath from Kurama as the contents touched the wound. "Oh yes, this stings at contact, so watch out." She warned belatedly.

"Thank you for the notice."

"But it's a potent ointment, so what else can you expect?" Yasu picked up the gauze and wrapped it around his arm several times. She then moved to the stomach wound. She made an effort to try not to pay attention to the fact his shirt was off and he looked good without it on. Slowly she spread the ointment on the wound in front of her. She put down the container and picked up the gauze and wrapped it around his stomach. She had to reach around with both arms him to effectively get the gauze around him.

When she finished she stood up, only to fall short of her goal. While she had been attending to his stomach wound, she failed to notice the arms slithering to her waist. Kurama pulled her down to him with her back to his chest.

"You sly fox." She scolded softly. Not too long after the Himimaru incident, Kurama had explained to her about his and Youko Kurama's connection.

"Of course." He whispered back, she could practically hear him smirking. He kissed her cheek. He softly nuzzled the side of her face and she nuzzled back. She turned her head back to see him, but instead meet his lips. The kiss lasted for seemingly an eternity, not that either of them minded.

Finally, they parted to breathe a little. Yasu's breath was a bit shaky. Kurama smiled at her. They sat there for awhile when Yasu suddenly spoke up.

"We had better get back before the others get too suspicious. I'm sure Rai will have given them some ideas."

"I suppose so." Kurama responded, but suddenly he pulled her into another kiss. This one didn't last so long as the first.

After they separated again, Kurama put his shirt back on. Yasu led him out the room.

"By the way, the ointment should spend up the healing process of the wound." Yasu added, seeming to start where they had been before the kiss. Kurama smiled.

"Thanks good."

When they found their friends, a dark female demon was fighting. She had black, scaly wings and black spiked hair with blue bangs. She wore all dark colors.

"And this match goes to Hinati Kamuisa of Team Unmei!" Koto announced. There were many catcalls and cheers. This team was definitely popular. "Next up from Team Unmei is Shogate, the ultimate shapeshifter!"

Rai stood up in surprise, **"WHAT!"**

* * *

Elf: And enter Shogate again. Evil jerk(Would use strong language, but I won't. I don't like it.).Sorry about the long pause in updating folks! It's all about computer access, which my sister won't give me unless I nag her to death.

Kuronue: You can be quite talented in that section.

Elf: (whacks him with a pillow) Shut up! No one asked you! Anyways, my thanks go out to my very good friend, InuYashaTetsusaiga140 for letting me use Hinati Kamuisa and the cat demon (hint: There is futher plot with both of them). Thanks a mil, Sara! You're totally awesome!


	16. To Know Your Enemies Or Your Family

**Chapter15: To Know Your Enemies… Or Your Family**

Rai stared in disbelief as the called opponent walked onto the arena. He was still in the guise of her brother, Seishou. He was smirking evilly. He cast off his coat, showing of strong arms. He looked about the crowd and somehow spotted Rai in the midst. He smiled and waved. Rai's face was full of anger. How dare that monster do this in her brother's body!

Rai fell down when someone had tugged her arm. It had been Yasu. Rai could tell by looking in Yasu's eyes that she understood the situation fully.

"Save your energy. You'll fight him soon enough." She said firmly. "For now, watch this battle so you'll be ready when you do."

Rai looked back at the arena resigned. Yasu was right. Besides, what could she do from up here? A thought suddenly came to mind. Yukaru would be watching! He would see Shogate fighting in Seishou's form!

As she thought this, there was a small rumble of lightning. It had to have been Yukaru. Yukaru would keep his cool under nearly any circumstance. But she knew that Yukaru would come to her, asking for an explanation. She wouldn't blame him when he did.

In a second, the battle started. Shogate's opponent drew their sword and charged him. Shogate stood there as if nothing was happening. Just before his opponent reached him, he drew his own sword and stopped them in their tracks. They wasted no time with words. In a moment, they were in a fierce battle. The sound of metal against metal filled everyone's ears.

Suddenly, Shogate leapt away. Loudly, he shouted, "Enough of this game. It's time to finish you off." Then he slashed at the opposing demon, cutting them in half.

The crowd cheered at the victorious demon. Shogate waved and walked off.

"Team Unmei is victorious for this round, folks! Come back tomorrow for more mayhem!" Koto shouted out, officially dismissing everyone.

Everyone was quiet when walking back to their rooms. They were unsure of what to say to Rai, who was obviously worried about the well-being of her brother. Sure Shogate said he was alive then, but nothing was said about how far from death he was.

"Rai, you have some explaining to do." Yukaru's voice came from behind.

Rai turned to face her eldest brother and looked down. "I know." She turned to her friends, "Could I speak to my brother alone for awhile.

Everyone agreed. Hiei lagged behind, but left with a nod from Rai.

"I'll explain as much as I know. Shogate has been impersonating Seishou for at least two months now. He first did it to spy on us and now he's just using Seishou as leverage for our cooperation in this tournament. I have no clue where Seishou is and I have no clue if he's alright." She put her face in her hands.

This sight wrenched Yukaru's heart. It just so happened that all the Toshimo brothers liked to make sure that their only sister was alright. Yukaru hugged Rai.

"I'm sure he will be. That kid's always been good at getting himself out of trouble and staying alive when you'd expect him to die." He said comforting her. "I seem to remember a particularly humorous escape. Remember the one time both of you nearly drowned?"

Rai looked up at him and nodded.

She had been practicing agility, and balance while doing a practice fight with Seishou on a strong, thin piece of wood. Their four elder brothers sat watching them. It was hazardously placed above a lake. At one moment, Rai lost her balance and went tumbling into the lake below them. Her weapons that were still attached to her dragged her down. Seishou dived in after her without a second thought. Before any of the older ones could react, Rai surfaced. With some difficulty, Seishou placed her on the board, but he didn't join her. He fell under the surface and didn't come back up. She looked into the water frantically. Nothing.

"Are you alright, Rai?" One of them called out to her.

"Yeah, but Seishou went under and hasn't come out yet!" Just as she spoke, something broke the surface. Seishou's head popped up.

"I suppose you're looking for me." Was the first thing out of his mouth?

"Seishou!" She began happily, but paused looking at him. She put a hand to her mouth to stop herself from laughing. "You look like a drowned rat." She said, not able to contain it any longer. His face fell. Instead of responding, he took her arm and pulled her back in.

"Don't know why I saved you in the first place."

Rai was brought out of her thoughts when Yukaru spoke.

"Seems like someone's getting impatient."

Rai looked up from Yukaru to see yet another brother. Inasuwei. He was about as tall as Yusuke and had light brown hair with sky blue eyes. He wore a red jacket, unzipped, revealing the white shirt he wore underneath and black pants. Rai jumped over to him, hugging him around the midriff.

"Hey Inasuwei! When did you come down here? And why did you?"

"I came in yesterday afternoon. And why wouldn't I come down? I, myself, haven't seen you, Rai, for a couple of years. Besides, I heard you have a boyfriend." He said as he ruffled her hair. He beamed down and she beamed back.

"Yeah, why don't you come and meet my friends?"

"Why not? You comin' Yukaru?" He looked up. "Dang! He did it again! I'll never know how he does it." Yukaru had pulled another disappearing act. Rai shrugged and took Inasuwei's hand to lead him to her room.

"By the way, are Hiriguwa and Karima here too?" She asked him on the way up.

Inasuwei shook his head. "Nah, they're watchin' over Naku and Marakai. You know how much of a handful they can be." Rai nodded, giggling.

She opened the door to the boys' room, "Hey everyone, I'd like you to meet my brother, Inasuwei." She said happily.

Kuwabara looked up at him, "Uh, didn't we leave you with Yukaru?"

"You did. But Inasuwei popped up and Yukaru pulled another disappearing act."

"So Rai, which one is your boyfriend?" Inasuwei asked bluntly.

"Straight to the point, aren't you, Inasuwei?" Rai asked, her face fell. He shrugged in response. "Well, I'll just introduce you to everyone at once. That's Yusuke Urameshi, Kazuma Kuwabara, Kurama, Yasu, and finally, Hiei." She introduced them, pointing to each in turn. "Everyone, this is Inasuwei, he's pretty much the joker of all my brothers."

Inasuwei looked at each in turn. "Lemme guess, Hiei? Deffinitely not Kurama judging by how close Yasu is to him."

Rai's face fell again, "Yeah. You're not going to drop this aren't you?"

Inasuwei shrugged his shoulders in indifference, "I gotta find out which one is going to d-." Before he could get any further, Rai hit him in the face with a pillow from the couch.

"That's far enough with that kind of talk. I say we move on."

"I, for one, agree. Your brother certainly is a lot like Yusuke. Are there any other of your brothers here?" Yasu asked.

"No, Hiriguwa and Karima are watching over Naku and Marakai. We should all know by now that this tournament isn't really a family affair."

"How old is Marakai? You said he was the youngest." Kurama asked.

Rai thought back. "Um, he's a little over four-years-old. And Naku is the cheekiest little ten-year-old I have ever known."

"I'll say. He keeps telling me to shut up whenever I start talking." Inasuwei interrupted.

"No, that would be Seishou. But anyways, Hiriguwa and Karima are very interesting. Hiriguwa is the calm one, and Karima is the one that, well, how would you say it, Inasuwei?"

"He practically a rock. The guy hardly talks."

"That's a bit of an exaggeration. He just doesn't talk unless he feels he needs to. And that is usually when he's getting Inasuwei and Naku out of their more idiotic problems." Rai explained.

"Yeah right. Whatever you say. Anyways, I gotta be off. It was nice seeing you again, Rai. Next time, don't leave without telling us where on Earth you're going. Nice meeting your fiancée." He gave a small salute as he walked off, leaving everyone to stare after him.

"You have some interesting brothers, Rai." Kurama commented.

"You have no idea."

* * *

Elf: Yukaru is definitely the older brother part. Inasuwei is pretty funny. I started coming up with his personality when I realized he was going to be quite a bit like Yusuke.

Kuronue: What was he going to say before Rai hit him in the face?

Elf: You'd probably be happier not knowing. It just concerns Rai's and Hiei's relationship farther than probably anyone wants to know. I wouldn't say it anyways.

Kuronue: (Silence)

Elf: Yeah, I know.


	17. Team Mur

**Chapter16: Team Mur**

Being free of her brother's not-so-savory remarks, the group realized it was dark outside.

"So in a matter of hours Team Mur shall fight." Yasu said softly. Rai looked at Yasu with a little confusion.

"What's so special about Team Mur? I haven't heard any teams like this one."

"Something is different about the way they fight. It's not just 'kill or be killed' for them."

"How do you know? Have you talked to them?" Kuwabara asked. He seemed at a loss for thoughts of when she might've talked to them.

"No."

"Then how do you know?"

"A feeling."

"You're basing your opinion of this team, that you haven't even met yet, off of a feeling?" Yusuke said skeptically.

"Yes."

Yusuke was speechless for a moment. "What is it? Can you sense someone's intentions just by looking at them?"

"No. This team is just different." She stood. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to sleep." She walked out of the room, leaving everyone to stare after her.

"She's changed a lot since we met you guys." Rai said out of the blue.

"Really?" Kuwabara asked, "I've noticed anything different about her."

"Well, you didn't know her before she came to the Human World. She seems to be more considerate of what people are. When we first came here, I think no one was important to her. Not even herself. But now it's a different story. There's me, her, and, Kurama." She finished with a big grin at Kurama. She stood up and stretched, "Who knew one could have a serious conversation after talking to Inasuwei?"

"What was he going to say anyways, Rai?" Yusuke asked.

"I'm not going to repeat it. He doesn't have the cleanest mind in the world. It was a very inappropriate thought." She said. She walked towards the door.

"You're going to sleep too?" Kuwabara asked.

"No. I'm going to take a little walk." No one really noticed Hiei had left.

Rai reached the forest without meeting anyone. The tall trees crowded the light path that had been created. She found a large pond. The moonlight reflected off its smooth surface. Tall grass rushed in the cool breeze. Trees created a circle around it. It was a beautiful scene.

She hugged herself and looked up at the sky. It was dark, only lit by the full moon, glittered with bright stars. "Such beauty… Its sweet scent can only barely counter my bittersweet feelings for home." She whispered to the wind, a line from a song that she knew once long before now.

"An interesting phrase coming from you." She didn't even need look back to tell that it was Hiei. He walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Will you tell me why you decided to follow me out here?"

"You attract trouble."

She laughed. "You're my guard dog, then."

"I never want you out of my sight." He said, "I'll always watch over you."

She turned to face him, "I don't say this often. I don't get why. But I love you, Hiei." She kissed him tenderly on the lips, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I know." He paused, and slowly added, "I do too."

A soft smile graced her light pink lips. Gathering up some courage, she brought a hand to his hair.

"What are you doing?"

"Something I've wanted to do for a while." She ruffled his hair and giggled. Hiei looked at her like she was crazy. "Okay, now that that's out of my system." She kissed him on the lips.

They parted. Shocking blue looked into deep red.

"This is perfect scene. So peaceful and serene. The complete opposite from what our lives have recently." She whispered gently. Hiei didn't answer, but instead, brought closer into him. It was his turn. This turn it was fiery and passionate. He was in control, and she let him.

They separated for air. Rai stepped back, but tripped on tree root, dragging Hiei down with her.

"You have the worst balance that I've ever seen." He said in disbelief.

"Maybe." She paused when she noticed their position. "But I guess it's a good thing we're alone right now." Her face went red, but Hiei's shadow blocked any light that would've revealed it.

Hiei noticed this comment. He was currently less than two inches from her face. But that wasn't it. There was the fact that, now he was practically lying on top ofher. Thoughts involving this position arose. He suppressed most of them. The thought that kept returning was how beautiful she looked to him. Underneath him.

"Uh, Hiei."

"What is it?"

"You haven't moved yet. You're kind of squishing me here."

He picked himself up about an inch, just enough for her to be 'un-squished'. A deep chuckle emerged from deep within him. He surprised himself. Not even a year ago, he would've scorned any ideas of romantic dealings including himself, but now he in a very suggestive position with the love of his life.

He leaned his head down and kissed her. She didn't protest. Not that she could. After a few minutes, she brought her hands to his face and pushed him away an inch.

"Sorry to break the mood, Hiei, but this is probably not the best time or place to be doing like this." She said, the effects of the kiss were evident in her voice.

"Hn." He picked himself up off of her. She sat up.

"Heh, for a minute I thought we'd be going all the way, there." She paused, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that someone put the root there." She laughed. Hiei looked at her. She was very different. She was happy, but not enough to be annoying. The more he thought about her, the more he saw traces of where she placed herself in his heart.

"Why did you fall in love with me?" A simple question. "No one was supposed to."

Rai looked at him and thought for a moment. "At first, the attraction may have started how much you reminded me of my brother. But then," She paused, "Then you grew different from him, and I liked it. I don't really know why. I just know that I do." She stood up, dusting herself off. "And I guess I like stepping on forbidden ground every once in a while." She hugged him from behind and drowsily added, "You're wonderful and I love you." She fell asleep holding him.

He rolled his eyes. He somehow managed to sling her over his shoulder and into his arms. One hand under her hand and one under her knees. He walked to hotel with a smirk on his face.

* * *

Elf: Hiei-kun was having a little too much fun there. But since are seen as minors and this story currently a, basically, PG rating, I will certainly **not** have them go all the way in this story.

Kuronue: You had too much funwriting this chapter.

Elf: DID NOT! (whacks him with a pillow) Anyways, sorry about the long wait in updating. I had a lot of schoolwork with having school end for the summer. I was going to update Tuesday, but I couldn't get a hold of a computer.

Kuronue: You spent most of with your friends at the arcade playing DDR. Even though you played those "sniper" games. Your friends were so surprised at you. Your friend in took a picture, she was so surprised.

Elf: How did you... I HAVE A STALKER!

Kuronue: (steals the pillow and whacks Elf with it) Shut up. I just wanted to know what you were doing. You didn't come home after school.

Elf: How sweet! (hugs her Batman)


	18. Threats

**Chapter 17: Threats**

Everyone sat up in the stands, ready to watch the next match. They were eager to see Team Mur in action again. Yasu watched them solemnly, memorizing their every move. There was no doubt in her mind that they'd win. The other team was too clumsy to stand up to Mur's grace and proficiency.

"Team Mur is pretty good. I'm looking forward to fighting them tomorrow." Rai paused, "As long as I don't get killed." She laughed nervously.

Yasu looked at Rai, "Don't even joke around like that."

"Calm down. You know how resourceful I am. I'm hard to kill off." She winked at her friend.

"Like a cockroach. No matter how many times you try step on them, they always escape." Yasu compared her using a colorful analogy.

Rai's face fell. "You don't have me to compare to a cockroach."

"It works though. I should know from experience."

"Hold on, what do you mean you know experience?" Yusuke asked. He looked like he putting two and two together, but the answer seemed to be five instead of four.

"I know from experience because the first time we met, I tried to kill her." Yasu admitted to the group.

"**WHAT!**" Yusuke and Kuwabara asked in disbelief. Kurama and Hiei looked at the girls with less surprise. After all, when they met, Hiei fought Kurama.

"It's true. Our relationship had very rocky start. And by the way, you guys don't shout like that." Rai stated calmly, clearing out an ear with her finger.

"What happened? Rai's obviously alive and you two are friends, so what happened?" Kuwabara asked.

"Why don't you tell the story, Yasu? It would be easier for you to explain your motives for killing me than me." Rai suggested. Yasu looked at Rai with a look of distaste. "Go on. No one's stopping you." She beamed at beamed at Yasu.

"Fine. I was traveling by myself, since my family had been brutally murdered about seven months beforehand." Yasu started her story. "I had grown very distrustful everyone around me. Rai was still her happy little self back then."

"What would we expect?" Yusuke interrupted, earning glares from everyone listening to Yasu.

"Continuing on. I stole to eat. No one would employ a young girl that seemed so weak. My little jobs were few because people familiar with the fact that there was a pickpocket hanging around. Then they would be on the alert. That would've made things harder for me. One day, I escaped from a fight with several demons that had mistaken me for some other pickpocket. I was pretty tough fighter even then, but these demons snuck up on me and outnumbered me at least ten to one."

"I was injured and stumbling. Finally after two days of wandering and bleeding, I collapsed."

"That's where I come in!" Rai added in happily.

"You can tell the story if you want to." Yasu said glaring at her.

"No, no, go on ahead."

"When I wake up, Rai's overly-happy face is hovering mine. Immediately, I jumped and attacked her. She kept dodging my attacks until I got too close for comfort. She drew her shuriken and started throwing them at me. I was caught off guard and a couple cut across my skin. I finally got back on my feet. Then it came to hand-to-hand combat. She drew her knives to fend off my attacks. I managed a couple of hits on her when she finally managed to charge her tanto with electricity. She cut me arm here," She lifted her sleeve to a scar across her upper-arm. The scar was light and old.

"Not being used, I fell unconscious."

"I'll take it from here, Yasu." Rai interrupted.

Yasu crossed her arms and looked at Rai with a short glance, then closed her eyes. "Fine by me. It seems that people like interrupting me." She leaned against a nearby wall. She opened her brown eyes and looked expectantly at Rai, waiting for the girl to continue the story.

"Well, while Yasu was unconscious, I brought her to my home. Seishou was good healing so I asked him to heal her. He looked at my wounds and decided not to ask questions. He was used to me doing things he thought were crazy. I asked Yukaru if she could stay to fully recover. He said yes, so I left to go watch after her. When she finally came to, she tried to attack me again. But I told her, that once she fully recovered, then she try to kill me."

"Did she try again?" Kuwabara asked. The look on his face told Rai that he had been paying complete attention.

"No. Otherwise she wouldn't be standing here, now would she?" Rai winked at Yasu.

"Watch it, Rai. I won't hesitate in giving you a well-deserved beating." Yasu muttered threateningly.

Rai laughed. "But anyways, soon after we became good friends, I asked her why she was traveling alone. With prodding she finally told me about her family and Himimaru. Then I promised her that I would help her no matter what happened. And I obviously kept that promise." Rai tied the whole story up in a nice bow.

"Story-time's over. Now let's go." Yasu suggested, walking away. The group followed.

The rest of the night was uneventful. Rai and Yasu headed for their room without anything happening. Yusuke teased the four about this for awhile. He quickly stopped after he was punished "lightly" by Yasu.

The two girls slept peacefully, unaware of their early morning visitors.

Eyelids opened, revealing blue eyes, only to squeeze themselves shut to block out the bright sunlight that came through the open window. Rai sat up quickly.

"I don't remember opening the window last night." She pondered out loud.

"You didn't. I opened it." An alien, deep, but light voice came from across the room. Rai looked to see a man leaning against the wall. It wasn't Hiei or Kurama. It was man with white hair and silver eyes. Two snowy white dog ears protruded from his hair and a matching tail hung limply behind. Rai recognized him as the captain from Team Mur.

Rai jumped in surprise, releasing a loud yelp as she fell from her bed. Her yelp woke up her companion. Yasu sat up sleepily.

"What's your problem this time, Rai?" She muttered sleepily. Her face fell when she saw that the girl in question had fallen from her bed. Yasu yawned. She froze when she saw the dog demon. She leapt out of bed. "What are you doing here?" She snarled at him.

Hiei and Kurama suddenly burst through the door. He and Kurama felt a strange demonic aura from the girls' room. As soon as Hiei saw the male demon, he had him at the throat against wall with his katana. "What are you doing in here, dog?"

"My name is Inutake, not dog. I wanted to make an offer with your team captain. Now put me down so I can talk properly." He explained. Hiei backed off a little, but was kept his katana in plain view.

"Why didn't you come earlier last night? Instead of when these girls are so obviously indisposed." Kurama asked. He clearly wasn't happy with when Inutake made his entrance.

The girls suddenly realized that they were still in their pajamas. Both girls wearing tank tops; Rai was wearing shorts, while Yasu wore pants.

"It doesn't really matter right now. I didn't come to tournament for women."

"What's this offer?" Hiei glared at Inutake.

"This is it. Either don't come to fight, or you'll be killed."

* * *

Elf: Gomen nasai for the long wait! I'e been sidetracked with my other fanfic project.

Kuronue: You tell these people that the reason you didn't update on this story was because you were working on a different one?

Elf: Yup. I like to tell the truth. Besides, I hadn't written in that one in quite some time. I'd like to start posting it this summer.

Kuronue: With your procrastination skills, I find that highly unlikely.

Elf: (whacks him with pillow) I heard that!


	19. Red Phoenix

**Chapter 18: Red Phoenix**

"This is it. Either don't come to fight, or you'll be killed." Inutake's proposition met silence.

"Are you serious?" Rai finally asked.

"Quite serious, I assure you."

"And what do you take us for? Cowards?" Rai looked at him angrily.

"No, not at all. It's just that my team doesn't want to fight you. We've had this discussion with each of our opposing teams. We don't enjoy killing."

"I knew it." Yasu stated calmly. "Why are you here then?"

"We were forced. I won't tell you what was used as leverage."

"Guess what, Inutake. You weren't the only ones. They have my twin brother as a hostage. If we didn't come, they would've killed us and my twin brother. I care deeply for my brother. Plus, I've become fond of my head. As I know a certain other person I know has as well. I… My team can't back down."

Inutake looked at Rai. He was considering what she just said. "How do you know that they have your brother? It could be some fake. Besides, how do I know that you aren't lying to me? Coming up with a fake story for pity."

Hiei was enraged at this. His katana was, once again, at Inutake's throat. "How dare you question that girl's honesty?" He spat angrily.

"Calm down, Hiei, please. He didn't make it this far trusting everyone he met." Rai put an arm on Hiei's shoulder. Hiei looked at Inutake for second and lowered his katana. "Inutake, remember what Shogate looked like?"

"Yes, but what does that shape-shifter have to do with this?"

"Everything. He took the form of my brother, Seishou. Do you think that Shogate would let the real Seishou wander around so that the real Seishou could put a stop to him?" Rai asked.

"No. The original is always stronger a copy, as they say." Inutake looked at Rai again, thinking very critically of this girl. He suddenly stepped up to Rai, sniffing her.

"Wha-what are you doing?" She took a step back. Yusuke and Kuwabara barged in at that precise moment. When they saw Inutake sniffing Rai, their jaws dropped.

Inutake finally stepped back. "You're not lying. If you were, your heart would've started beating faster and you would've given off a different scent. And, well," He chuckled to himself.

"I'd join in, but I have no clue you're laughing about." Rai said, crossing her arms.

"Really?" He chuckled again, he leaned forward and whispered something in her ear. Rai quickly went red and mumbled something.

"I'm amazed." Yasu said, an amused expression had flitted across her features. "You've managed to reduce Rai to a blushing, mumbling idiot. How'd you do it?"

Rai looked up surprised, "Um, Inutake, isn't it you returned to your team?"

"Yes. I regret having to face you in this tournament, Team Toshimo." He paused for a minute. "Perhaps you don't have to die." He said, leaping out the window the way he came.

"What was that about?" Yusuke asked, "And why was he sniffing you, Rai?"

"Um, Inutake came in telling me that if we didn't withdraw from the tournament, his team would kill us. But then I explained what we were here for and it seemed he changed his mind about having to kill us." Rai explained. Kuwabara's face had a thoughtful expression.

"What is it, Kuwabara?" Kurama asked. Kuwabara looked pretty thoughtful.

"Why'd he go out the window? He coulda gone out the door." Everyone's face fell. Of all things to realize.

"Hm, well anyways, I'm going to get ready to fight, so if you don't mind, boys," she paused to glare, "I would very much like to get dressed."

Yusuke and Kuwabara suddenly realized that Rai and Yasu were still in there pajamas.

"Wow Yasu. You look a lot different in those clothes than in your fighting ones." Yusuke commented, forgetting Kurama was standing right there.

"Yusuke, just to refresh your memory, she is taken and I am standing right next to you." Kurama said calmly. But inside he was rather angry with the detective's comment.

Yusuke jumped at the sound of Kurama's voice. "Oh yeah. Heh, sorry there, Kurama." He then noticed Yasu glared very deadly daggers at him. "Heh, heh. Forget I said that."

"Good, for if you said anymore, I would feel very much compelled to cut something off that's very dear to you, Yusuke." He visibly gulped. He quickly exited the room, followed by Kuwabara who was laughing at him. Rai smiled and shook her head. Hiei looked at Rai and walked out the room.

"Well, since we have more time than we usually do, I'm gonna take a shower." Rai said as she grabbed her gear and ran into the bathroom. Leaving Kurama and Yasu alone.

Yasu took her hair, holding it in position for a ponytail. She grabbed the black hair tie on her bed and tied her hair in place. What struck Kurama as odd was that she seemed to be ignoring him.

"Is everything alright, Yasu?" He asked her quietly. He approached her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Oh, you're still here? I didn't realize it." She brought her hair over her shoulder, revealing that her shirt didn't cover the upper half of her back. "No, nothing's wrong. I was thinking to myself."

Something red caught the fox's eye. He backed up a bit to shine some light on Yasu's back. A red phoenix was tattooed on the fire demon's back. His hand trailed down from her shoulder to trace the outline of the majestic beast. Yasu shuddered from his touch.

"That feels," She paused, looking for the right word, "Nice." Taking this as a good sign, Kurama continued tracing its outline.

"Where did you get this?" He asked. Curiosity was pulling at him.

"After a couple years of being with Rai, I decided I needed more strength. I knew that I would come back when I felt I needed to,plus I was also rather restless. I did some traveling. I was in much better health than I had been." She paused reflecting on what had happened. "I met a man that could teach me more powerful moves than I had ever known. And he did. When he taught me the last addition to my powers, I received this tattoo as a sort of, well, housing of the power."

"Have you ever used it?" Kurama asked. This was curious.

"No. I was going to use it on Himimaru, but I never had the chance." She turned around to face Kurama, who was still standing. "Not that I didn't mind your help at all." She didn't really notice that Kurama hadn't moved his hand. It had placed itself on her stomach when she turned around.

"I don't believe I was ever told thank you for that." He smirked at the much shorter girl in front of him.

Yasu gave the fox a dirty look before wrapping her arms around his neck. "Really?" She gave him a short, yet deep, kiss. "Thank you."

* * *

Elf: Heheh. Sorry about the long wait in updating. But I was rather busy.

Kuronue: Too busy being lazy?

Elf: (glare) I had stuff to do.

Kuronue: Like reading other people's stories and sitting around. Not to mention finally giving me more credit than you had been for several months.

Elf: Oh get over it. AndI did other stuff than that!

Kuronue: Ah yes, you did go on that trip to Utah.

Elf: Yup! It was very pretty! And- ... You were stalking me again.

Kuronue: (slight blush) Only to make sure that you didn't kill yourself.

Elf: Aww! My Batman is so sweet! (huggles/glomps)

Kuronue: Ack! Not again!


	20. Semifinals Part One

**Chapter 19: Semifinals**

Team Toshimo stood ready at the arena. Team Mur stood at the opposite end. All of Team Mur, except for Inutake, wore cloaks. This was slightly surprising. But now that anyone thought about it, the only one that took off a cloak was Inutake.

Once again, the captains decided on one-on-one.

---------------------------------------------------

"I wanna fight first!" Yusuke volunteered himself for the beginning match. Rai looked at the others. Both Yasu and Hiei didn't seem to mind at all. Kurama nodded.

"Alright, just don't get yourself killed."

"Hah! Death seems to hate me." Yusuke grinned as he ran up.

The team member that stepped up to face him seemed to be one out of a set of two, seeing as how one of the others was the exact height and build. This participant seemed to be about as tall as Kuwabara, who was standing behind the team.

"Hey! I've got a question for you!" The cloaked figure turned to the boy, "Doesn't that cape get stuffy every now and then?"

Everyone in the circular arena just about fell over from surprise, or exasperation.

Once the figure recovered from the odd question, it shrugged.

As Koto recovered, she brought the microphone up to her mouth. "Begin the fight!"

As soon as these words left her mouth, the cloaked form disappeared. Yusuke looked around, searching for his opponent. A small shuffling noise dame from behind Yusuke, tipping him off of the whereabouts of his opponent. Taking advantage of this, he quickly turned to jab the figure in the stomach. He hit dead on.

The force of the Spirit Detective's punch threw the person through the wall. After announcing the, indeed, one of the fighters was out-of-bounds, Koto began the count.

She only reached the count of one before someone emerged out of the debris. A loud, male laugh came from underneath the cloak.

"Good, strong punch there. I think I might enjoy this fight." He said as he landed in the ring. He had a strong accent that was difficult for Yusuke to place, but it was from somewhere. He looked down at the state of his robes. "Heh, no point in wearing these rags anymore." And with that he ripped off the, now useless, article of clothing.

It revealed a demon that appeared mostly human, with the exception of the demonic markings and the pointed ears that stuck out of his wild, long, blue hair. Bright jade-colored eyes glittering with excitement gazed in Yusuke's direction. He had a muscular and stocky build. The markings on his body were blood red. Underneath his cloak, he had worn a white muscle shirt and blue pants.

"The name's Katashi." He paused, "Are we gonna finish this fight or stand around chattin'?"

Katashi ran at Yusuke, forming a fist with his right hand. It glowed a bright blue, sending out waves that could be felt by the five standing together on the other side of the arena.

Seeing the punch, Yusuke leapt over the charging demon. As he landed on the opposite side of Katashi, he noticed something odd. Instead of stopping, Katashi continued and punched the ground.

A tremor shook the arena before anything happened. All was silent for a moment. Then, abruptly, Yusuke's feet heaved up and knocked the boy off his feet. He landed flat on his back, thrown off by the miniature earthquake. Katashi decided to take advantage of his opponent's moment of weakness and strike.

The blue-haired demon jumped up, gaining some air to add to the force of the hit. All too soon, Katashi's hit made contact. A billowing could of dirt and dust flew through the air, causing several people to cough after trying to breathe. Slowly, the cloud resided, letting a clear view of the arena to be seen.

Katashi stood in a rather large crater caused by his strength, while Yusuke was nowhere to be seen.

"Where'd he go?" Kuwabara's voice could be heard.

Katashi's head snapped up to the sky immediately. He chuckled. "I hoped you'd live, Urameshi. Or else I wouldn't be havin' that much fun, now would I?" Everyone looked up to see the addressed boy land on the ground.

"Nice punch ya have there." Yusuke complimented with a grin, "Seeing as how you made the ground move, I'd guess you were an Earth demon."

"Thank ya, but nope. I have no ties with dear Earth, just manipulated it some."

"Well, I guess it's about time to show you my punch." Yusuke vaulted off the ground. "Reigun!" A shot of blue light emitted from Yusuke's pointed finger and struck Katashi in the chest.

The demon ground his feet into the ground so he wouldn't fly into the air. He skidded back several feet. He rubbed his chest. "Ouch, I really fel' that one." There was a vivid scorch mar on his chest. "Well, now it's time to pay you back in spades."

The fact that Katashi hadn't even made a move to dodge his feared attack had shocked the Spirit Detective already, which gave Katashi a sufficient edge when he launched his fist once again. This time it connected with Yusuke. The boy flew back to the very edge of the ring and fell.

It took a moment for Yusuke to stand back up. He was shaky for a moment but quickly gained his bearings once again.

"Ha! It's going to take a lot more than a punch to keep me down." Yusuke boasted with a confident grin.

Katashi gave Yusuke a look that was very difficult for anyone to read. It was interested, amused, and somehow it just spooked Yusuke a little.

"Really now? Let's see how long you can last." Katashi bolted up to Yusuke and started hammering at the teen with his fist.

Yusuke punched back, giving as much strength as his opponent would.

The spectators wanted in anticipation as the punches escalated. As one raised his strength, the other would rise to match it.

"Wow, I never thought I'd see so much punching in one match." Rai commented from the sidelines quietly.

Finally, Katashi took an opening. Yusuke flew across the arena. But, after gaining some distance, Yusuke fired his infamous attack once again.

"Reigun!"

It was Katashi's turn to fly. He flew right out of the arena, right into the stone wall, with Yusuke on the opposite end of the circular area. Both were down when the smoke cleared. Koto began the count to see who, if anyone would win.

"One… Two… Three… Four… Five…"

Simultaneously, both combatants rose to their feet. Both demon and teenage boy were limping towards the arena in which they were supposed to begin.

Koto still continued counting. "Seven… Eight… Nine…"

Before she could reach ten, both Katashi and Yusuke stood in the arena, breathing heavily and bleeding.

"And the fight continues!" The red haired announcer yelled out to the audience. Hearty cheers filled the stadium.

Yusuke took a fighting stance and Katashi did as well.

Time practically froze as both waited before continuing the fight.

"Neither can continue. Now they're waiting to see who will be the first to fall." Everyone looked at Kurama as he calmly stated this. His emerald eyes were focused on the field.

Breath caught as both faltered. Yusuke regained his balance as Katashi fell to the ground.

Koto resumed the count once again. This time, she reached ten before Katashi could stand.

The cloaked figure that was the same size as Katashi shook their unseen head as they walked forward to gather their fallen companion.

"Good work, Urameshi." Yusuke jumped in surprise when the figure spoke. Their voice gave no clues as to what gender they were. "Katashi will want to face you again someday." And with that said, they carried the unconscious Katashi to their side of the ring.

"And Team Toshimo wins round one of the semifinals!"

Yasu observed Yusuke silently as the victor strolled over to them. Her brown eyes calculating him as he walked.

"What'd I say guys?" He asked with a triumphant grin on his face.

"Heh," Rai laughed to herself, "You say that like we doubted you."

"Detective, sit down before you collapse of exhaustion." Yasu insisted calmly. "If you would remember, a full team is needed for the next fight." The black haired boy laughed sheepishly as he practically fell into a sitting position against the stadium wall.

"Good enough for ya?" He asked. His ego had not deflated with the subtle reprimand. Yasu did not grace him with an answer.

"Now would both teams send the next contender to the arena!" Koto pronounced into the mike.

"I will go next." Kurama volunteered. Yasu gave him a sharp look. "Do not worry, I will make sure that I return in one piece." He reassured her, placing a calm hand on her shoulder before heading unto the field.

Team Mur sent up their tallest member. From what Kurama could tell, he was tall and had a stocky build. His stride suggested the same thing.

The calm fox calmly looked at his opponent as Koto raised the mike once again.

"May the battle begin!"

* * *

Elf: I profusely apologize for making you wait for the next chapter so long! I procrastinated, got busy with school, and generally had writer's block. I really wanted to post before the summer ended, but was never able to do it! I'm so sorry. Gomen nasai! (bows to readers)

Kuronue: That's what you get.

Elf: (whacks him with pillow) Tch. Easy for you to say. You're not the one writing or going to school... I've been wondering something about you though.

Kuronue: And what was that? It's surprising you're actually thinking before throwing yourself on someone.

Elf: Tch, I don't throw myself on people. That's Clary's and Sara's job. But anyway, where do people get the idea that you're a chimera? It's seems so much more logical to assume you're a bat demon than a mix of three different types. Afterall, that's what a chimera is, a mix of three different types of things, like Zelgadis from Slayers!

Kuronue: (shrugs) I dunno.

Elf: (glomps) Oh well, I love you anyway, Batman!

Kuronue: And she says she doesn't throw herself on people.


	21. Semifinals: Part Two

Semifinals: Part Two  


Kurama volunteered for the next match. The one that came out to face him was the tallest, which hovered about a foot over his head.

"May I have the pleasure of knowing your name?" Kurama asked the figure pleasantly.

"Daichi." A low grunt came from under the hood. "Don't know what you said to Boss, but he told us you bunch didn't deserve to die." The voice paused, "Fight and prove it."

"Begin the fight!" Koto, the fox demon, announced.

Daichi immediately charged Kurama. Something struck Kurama about how Daichi was doing so. Daichi wanted Kurama to attack him. Just as Daichi was about to strike, Kurama leapt out of the way.

It continued for several more minutes like this before Daichi spoke.

"Nice footwork, Red. But in order to win, you're gonna need to attack. And to see what I look like, you'll need to."

"Too true." Kurama agreed as he dodged another attack. "I guess I'll need to oblige." His hand threaded through his red hair to find what he needed. A split second later, it seemed he had pulled a blood-red rose from his hair.

Daichi grunted loudly at Kurama's display. Whether or not he knew of the swift, precise death that his opponent could inflict with that flower was debatable.

Daichi charged once again. A massive, iron fist flew out of the cloak. It flew too fast for the fox to get a good view of it.

Kurama was barely able to jump up and vault off the metal fist to make a soft landing behind his opponent. "Interesting move. Now it's time to show you one of mine." He held up the lovely rose that he had conjured not long beforehand. "Rose whip!" He announced with a clear voice. In an instant, the rose changed from its lovely, yet deceitful appearance to a lethal whip with long, cutting thorns.

"Hum, an animal spirit." Daichi was silent for a moment. "I've had enough of this costume." The iron-covered fist clenched the cloak and swiftly removed it, revealing a tall, heavily built demon underneath. Only one of his fists had the iron, the other was as a hand normally would be. He had obviously not bothered to find a shirt that would cover his completely toned torso. He wore black pants and boots. His head was covered short black hair. His eyes were of a fierce, bright green color. "Now let the real battle begin." His other fist transformed, obliterated from sight by a sort of smoke. It was now the same size as his other fist.

Kurama took a brief note that it had originally been only his left hand that was transformed. This meant he was probably left-handed.

Daichi once again charged Kurama. The smaller, more agile demon leapt over him, making sure to leave bloody marks on the larger demon.

It struck Kurama as odd that Daichi only charged at him

Daichi did something completely unexpected next… Well, no, not really. He charged once again. Kurama began to lash out at the offending demon. Now Daichi did the expected.

The iron-fisted demon grabbed a hold of Kurama's thorned whip, and since Kurama was still holding it, he began to whip the redhead around in circles very rapidly. After the first circumference, Kurama let go. If he didn't let go then, Daichi would go faster and faster, making it more difficult.

The fox demon sailed through the air. His little voyage ended when he met the wall. To cushion his landing, he summoned a wall of soft vines. The vines swiftly lowered him to the ground. He stepped back into the arena, ready to continue the battle.

"Congratulations. I did not expect that. I won't let guard down again."

"Hope that's right, or else there won't be a next time." Daichi suddenly clapped his hands together, a small shockwave rippled through the air, sending Kurama immediately into a sense of alert, the hair on the back of his neck rose slightly. The fists of irons rubbed together briskly, a sound of static fizzed in the background.

Kurama's emerald green eyes remained focused on Daichi through all of this.

Sparks of static electricity flew from the iron fists. Daichi's expression turned to a small smirk. "Other than you and boss, no one else has been lucky enough to see this part of my techniques. Lucky you." He glanced at one of his electrified fists, "There are different ways I could use these fists, fire, electricity, earth, and even get other metals."

He charged, but now it was different from before. His speed increased along with the charged fists. Kurama dodged the main part of the blow, the material of his shirt ripped as the fist grazed his skin, sending jolts through his body.

Kurama landed on his feet, falling to one knee.

"Had enough?" Daichi asked.

"Hardly." Kurama responded. "Though I have the feeling that it's going to change for you."

"And why is that?" Daichi grunted in a low guttural voice.

"You will feel the effects for yourself soon enough, if not immediately." Kurama answered vaguely. "I merely planted a keeoo(1) seed in one of your open wounds. Several things cause that seed to grow quicker than it usually would. Heat and friction are only a couple. The sparks and the collision between your fists helped create that."

As he spoke, a look of dawning realization pervaded Daichi's expression. "Heh, not bad. Not bad at all." He congratulated with a smirk as he fell to the ground.

Koto began the count. Daichi failed to rise by the time the female fox demon reached ten. "And Kurama wins another match for Team Toshimo!"

Kurama walked up to his defeated opponent's unconscious body. Carefully, he lifted the bigger demon up and carried him to his teammates.

"Thanks. I wasn't looking forward to carry around this hulk when I saw him collapse." The team member who was the same stature as Katashi thanked him.

"Not a problem."

"That's not what I expected when you said that you'd return in one piece." Yasu told Kurama as he walked to their side of the arena.

He chuckled. "Really? What were you expecting?"

She didn't grace him with an answer to the question. "You need to rest. By the looks of it, that burn could possibly leave a mark."

"Teams, send up your next contender!"

"Alright! My turn!" A feminine voice rung through the arena as the same robed figure that had thanked Kurama stepped onto the circular ring. "So who's going to be my opponent?"

"I'll go." Yasu said decidedly. "My katana is ready to have some action." She was in the ring within a second, leaving no room for anyone else to argue.

"Ah, Yasu, is it?" The figure hummed to herself. "It had been a while since I last heard that name. I certainly hope you'll recognize me." The figure lowered the hood of the robe, revealing the face underneath.

Yasu's eyes widened, "Kammi!"

"Hey Yasu. It's been awhile."

* * *

(1) Keeoo means knock-out or K.O. ... This is not an actual plant... I had writers block to the extreme... I feel ashamed...

Elf: Sorry about the really long wait guys. I had problems with the actual 'thinking of what the heck is going to happen is this fight'. It took me forever to figure out how this was going to end. Sure, I can think of the ending of the major villian, but I can't think of how a fight with Kurama and a... not-so-antagonist is going to go.

Kuro: (Sigh) You've beaten your head against a wall how many times now?

Elf: ... No physical ones actually. But more mental ones than I've the strength of will to count. And lots of talking to inanimate objects. You know, one thing I realized is that Yasu is the only OC of her personality type that doesn't wear black. I've yet to see one like her. They all wear black and are extremely angsty. I don't really have a problem with angst, but sometimes people take too far.

Kuro: That's an interesting note to leave them off on.

Elf: Not as interesting as the cliffhanger. Sorry guys, had to do it. It was either this or leaving it at Kurama dragged Daichi to his teammates, which I feel, is no way to end a chapter. I'll try to get the next chapter out soon.


	22. Semifinals: Part Three

This woman, whom Yasu had called 'Kammi', was a pretty lady. Her fiery red hair was tied in a half-ponytail, leaving the under layer of her hair free, and thick strands around her face were loose to curve about it. Her eyes were a shocking color of jade and narrow in form. The shape of her face was a mature one, suggesting she had been out of adolescence for some time.

"Uh." Kuwabara's voice rang out unexpectedly, startling a couple members of the group who had forgotten he was there, "Does Yasu know that lady?" He asked. His voice contained much curiosity.

"Um, probably, considering they know each other's names." Rai said with a shrug. "From where I have no clue."

"You mean you don't know?" Yusuke asked incredulously. He had believed these two girls knew everything about each other. To say that this new revelation was briefly startling was only slightly true. "But I thought you two knew all about each other."

"Well, I only know as much about her past as what she told you guys." She paused for a minute, "Though I do know a bit more about what happened between her brother's death and when she met me. She doesn't like people to really know about it. Why? I'm not too sure on it myself." Her blue eyes focused on the field in front of them. "I suppose it's only fair. There are things that I don't tell other people about me. Maybe I think no one would truly understand, but that's not really the point." She took a short breath, "In short-"

"Too late." Yusuke grumbled, receiving a hit on the head from Rai, who went back to her earlier position to appear innocent.

"In short," she resumed, "I have absolutely no clue how Yasu knows her opponent."

"Weird." Kuwabara stated, turning his attention to the fight that was now commencing.

"Ready Yasu?" Kammi asked sweetly.

"Ready enough for you." The sweet tone was not reciprocated in Yasu's voice.

"Hm." Kammi's eyes glinted with some unknown light before going back to their original state. "That's not how I remember your voice."

"People change over time." Yasu merely stated as she drew her katana. "So are you going to fight me or not?"

"Of course. I can't say that I haven't been waiting for this moment ever since I've met you. You always reminded me of your brother." Kammi suddenly gasped after she said that. "Pardon me, I forgot myself. I totally forgot." Wordlessly, she reached into her robes and brought out her sword.

Her sword was of an interesting design. It was a Western-style sword with a thick blade that was, perhaps, three and a half feet long. The hilt had a slight curve to it and was shaped like an elegant dragon with its wings folded against its body, there were sapphires placed where the eyes would be. "Let's begin."

Kammi charged at Yasu. There was no battle cry, just a fierce, determined look in her eyes. This had been day that both demons had been waiting for.

Yasu met Kammi's onslaught with her own charge.

The loud ringing of clashing swords filled the air as they attacked each other fiercely. Neither gave an inch as the fight went on. After several minutes, both girls jumped away, breathing heavily.

"Well, girl, you've improved since I first met you." Kammi said approvingly. Her eyes glittered with excitement. "I never would've thought that I'd really met you again to have this rematch."

"You could say that I have had a lot of practice." Yasu shrugged with nonchalance. "I didn't know I'd see you again either."

"Well, let's see how long we can go through this now." Kammi charged once again at her opponent.

"Wow, this Kammi really knew Yasu a lot." Yusuke's eyes widened.

"Yeah, she spoke Renji's name." Rai spoke up, "I don't know what Yasu was like before his death. This Kammi spoke like she knew him. Well, let's see how this turns out." All eyes turned back to the fight.

Yasu quickly backed up from the fight, katana in hand. There was a long cut on the side of her face.

"Backing away from the fight, Yasu?" Kammi asked. "In all the time I've known you, you've never been the one to back away willingly. I always had to stop you from continuing on when it wasn't possible for you." There were cuts on her as well.

"That's one way I'll never change. I've just preparing you for the last stroke."

There was one last lunge. There was a silent hush that fell over the wild crowd. Everyone watched with an anxious intensity.

At once, both girls fell to their knees; Kammi clutched her ribs while Yasu clutched one of her legs.

"Heh, well done. I knew that you would follow up in Renji's skill." Kammi whispered loud enough for Yasu to hear. "To tell you the truth, I would have been disappointed if you hadn't." These were the last words she said before she fell to the ground.

Koto began the count. Her voice rang through the crowd, but never reached Yasu's ears. The only thing she could think of were the words that Kammi had last spoken. Elation filled her heart. It was a good thing, she decided to herself.

"Ten! And this match goes to Team Toshimo!"

Yasu turned and walked towards Kammi's motionless body. She checked the pulse on the elder demon's neck. Still alive. Yasu smiled to herself. She gently put Kammi's arm around her shoulder. Limping towards the other side, she whispered, "Thank you, sister." She looked up at Inutake. Softly handing over Kammi's body, Yasu said harshly, "Take care of her, there is someone who will never forgive you if you don't." She turned away and limped towards Rai, Kurama, and the others.

The group ran up to join her; Kurama took the opportunity to lift Yasu off her feet.

"Don't argue, that leg needs to heal." He told her firmly.

"Wasn't planning on it."

"So Yasu, how does that lady know you?" Yusuke asked.

The girl was silent for a moment. Her eyes had closed, worrying Yusuke that he wouldn't get his answer. "She was Renji's fiancée." The answer came softly. "Along with Renji, she taught me much in swordsmanship." That was all she would say.

"Teams, send your next combatant for the next match!"

A loud cheer rang through the audience as Inutake was the one to step into the ring.

Hiei stopped Rai before she could step up. "I'll take this round. You must save your strength for your real opponent." He didn't need to tell Rai who. That imposter, Shogate.

Rai was quiet as Hiei walked to the ring. "Don't lose."

* * *

Elf: I apologize for a long wait and that's the chapter's kind of short. The file was being annoying on my computer so I had to get to a different computer. Well, it's something to do on New Year's when you're bored. 

Kuronue: You do things when you're bored alot.

Elf: Yeah, that's because I don't like being bored. When I'm bored, scary things pop up.

Kuronue: You say that like I don't know. I get on the recieving end of those ideas.

Elf: ... Not always though. There are other victims.

Kuronue: ... At least she admits they're victims...


End file.
